It's easy, Mr. Stephens, to go after Ocasio-Cortez on her thoughts about what constitutes a reasonable top-end tax rate. But since it mirrors (almost exactly) what your colleague Paul Krugman says, why not pick on someone your own size? When you do I'll be happy to serve as the cut man in your corner.
2
"while betraying his core political promise. As when George H.W. Bush broke his campaign promise and raised taxes in 1990 as part of the budget agreement, it will be his “Read My Lips” moment."
hold on..... bush vacated his position on taxes in response to facts. do not compare that to what trump is doing with the wall and the shutdown...... what GHW did is the EXACT opposite of what trump is doing.
6
It would seem to me that the 1950’s, a period of US history worshiped by conservatives, would be recent enough to justify the 70% tax rate. How ‘bout you, Bret?
11
regulations often lead to innovation, Bret.
2
Bret, you're plain wrong on lots of points. Some are:
1. Some schools are OK, others indefensible. Charter v public doesn't seem to be a factor. All are underfunded, so maybe that's a related factor.
2. The USPS is actually very good; not like when I was a boy.
3. Some VA hospitals,like the one I go to in Palo Alto, are VERY good. Some, like where my sister worked, are bad. Most of the VA scandal is in DC, not the field.
Private industry screws up even better, sometimes, than government. Yet another area when generalizations are wrong.
6
I am not a veteran but my veteran friends are extremely happy with the health care they have received from the VA. Not sure where Mr. Stephens is getting his information.
3
On that VA privatization thing, remember it has Koch/Trump buddy prints all over it. Most likely a kitty to loot. ProPublica:
The Shadow Rulers of the VA: How Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter and two other Mar-a-Lago cronies are secretly shaping the Trump administration’s veterans policies. https://www.propublica.org/article/ike-perlmutter-bruce-moskowitz-marc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va
No profit-making corporation is going to privatize without taking a cut. Less is not more. Charter schools, even when they're honest, skim good students off public schools, which have to take everyone and are hobbled by lack of funds in poorer districts.
There's a hotshot in CA who is working without pay and hiring, all on his own dime, hoping for a break.
Canada is sending in food.
AOC is very smart, and she's also beautiful. What a sensation. I suspect she'll work it all out, and everyone will benefit.
1
It's a little beyond centering now, Bret. The falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. Yeats wrote in the violence and confusion of the Irish Civil War, when Ireland was no longer a vassal but was not yet free. Such are our times. We are vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. And, lo, the rough beast of apocalypse is already on the horizon.
3
Dear Ms. Collins and Dear Mr. Stephens,
If you wish to live on a faster or slower calendar of years CE, you should switch to the calendars of the planets circling around the sun faster or slower, respectively, than the Earth.
There the number of the local year CE, and the number of local days of the local year, will be different from those on Earth. A simple exercise in arithmetic.
2
Stephens writes, "Predicting what Trump will do is like trying to guess which way the goldfish swims next." Actually if, like me, you support Jed Bartlett for President in 2020, you are likely to realize that you can predict where goldfish will swim by watching the movements week to week of the goldfish Danny got C.J.
Nor does Collins get off the hook easily. She writes that Trump never had any pets. What else would you call Ivana and Melania? (OK, there goes my chance to run for the Senate.)
4
Political left, right or center, where shall we go? How about a baseline everybody can agree to as a starting point? No President is allowed to assail the people of America with falsehoods on a daily basis, ever.
5
Bret Stephens, bless your little heart.
Gail Collins, thank you for your wisdom, tact, knowledge of how government works and the why for government (one reason not mentioned: to protect the weak from the strong).
4
The center really is freaked out about a 70% MARGINAL rate, aren't they? The short-hand of calling it a 70% rate is really just dishonest. All it means is that, if you earn, say, $11 million in one year, ONE million will be taxed at 70%. Everything else is taxed at a lower rate.
They're trying to scare middle and upper-middle class people with a tax that will only apply to the rich. Just like calling inheritance taxes "death taxes" and talking about losing the family business--another complete mischaracterization.
I appreciate AOC making it an accepted subject for discussion. She's not running for president this term (she's only 29--she can't), so this is the perfect time for her to advance ideas. YMMV, but I think a 70% marginal rate might be a good idea.
If you've already made $10 M in one year, maybe you should just relax a bit.
9
Bret might want to enroll in a history class again. He should remember that the top tax rate for the wealthy under Eisenhower (a Republican!) was 90%. Makes AOC seem rather moderate.
6
If it weren’t so hypocritical, I’d find it funny that when the right is accused to wanting to return to the past, simpler times, etc. they are accused of fantasy and/or misogyny and racism. The comment is that it’s package deal of sorts that cannot be separated. Yet the left can posit that we can cull out Eisenhower era rates without any attached baggage. Notably, they ignore that fact that those taxes collected at the 90% rate didn’t go to support public employees nor welfare nor public showing nor food stamps.
I probably disagree with Bret Stephens more than I agree with him, but I have come to enjoy his dialogues with Gail Collins. More than airing differing opinions, they show us that it is still possible to disagree without coming to blows and/or retreating to opposite corners to sulk. We cannot know our own positions until we consider all positions. At least that's what I try to instill in my history students.
6
One of the last American presidents to govern with a maximum income tax of 70 percent was Eisenhower, and that worked out pretty well.
5
Few regularly published columns in major newspapers are as inane as the "conversations" between these two.
Please. PLEASE, NYT...
Counter this privatization of the VA scheme with factual stories about the excellent care veteran hospitals provide. Contact some of the many commenters on the recent story. Negative stories about the “scandal-ridden” VA suck up all the oxygen and perpetuate a false narrative about a system that always fails out service men and women.
1
Does Bret mail anything?
USPS kicks FedEx and UPS tuchus!
6
Unfortunately, with so much press coverage of Trump's every most stupid or cruel or even Ok actions...all Trump All the Time, any Democrat of true merit does not seem to measure up in sheer excitement of the worst senses. Every Democrat who has declared exploring the office would be a 50 times better candidate than this person installed by the Russians.
Trump is not up to task of President, but he is master of the art of PR and Marketing. The press is being sucked in daily by his bloviating nonsense. Will you again be responsible for his election???
Love it when the New York times shows its gross neoliberal side with the OpEds. The columnists are not too different from the Republicans -- their stances on regulation and public schooling betray their awful patrician values and sensibilities.
Bret lets Mitch McConnell and all the Republicans in congress off the hook here, on this shutdown.
This is the first long shutdown, triggered by Presidential tantrum. Two things should be obvious to everyone in congress:
* If a President discovers that they win these, congress becomes meaningless and the President becomes a dictator
* the only way to stop a President is for Congress to pass bills AND sustain veto overrides: the authors of the constitution clearly provided the means for Congress to exert its fundamental power.
The obvious facts of this silly tantrum by Trump are that the Republicans controlled Congress for two years, and didn't give Trump his "wall." Trump did not even include his current 5.7 B$ demand in the administration's 2018 budget request!
Bret says "It means he will have failed a test of strength against the despised Nancy Pelosi while betraying his core political promise" ... but only because Trump ignored the promise when he had the muscle, and was subsequently idiot enough to allow right-wing gasbags to goad him into a test of strength after he was repudiated in the mid-terms.
Democrats aren't going to fold on this one because it's the most amazing self-immolating stupidity they have ever seen a Republican make. All the numbers are running against Trump; he's boxed and starting to gibber and squeal.
Either Trump backs down or the Republicans in Congress reopen the government, handing Trump a worse, but well-deserved defeat.
2
Ah the light touch! Thanks, you guys--
--but IGNORE Mr. Donald J. Trump? I don't see how. Not when he's President of the United States.
Imagine yourselves on a jumbo jet piloted by someone subject to epileptic seizures. Or by someone incapably drunk. Or by a child.
And the plane bobs and weaves and dips and plunges and--
--and you CAN'T just ignore it. Knuckles white as you grip the armrests--heart racing--mouth dry--
--no, Gail and Brett, I don't see how. You're GONNA pay attention to the guy when--
--he pulls out of NATO--
--he starts a war with Iran--
--he declares an unlimited national emergency and shuts
down The New York Times.
'Cause honestly--I see ALL these things as real live options. Who knows WHAT this guy may do? Urged on by those incessant howls and screeches and angry gesticulations proceeding from his. . . .from his--
--YOU know who I mean.
You are so right when you speak of America's vanishing MIDDLE. (And I don't mean MIDDLE CLASS--though I might as well.)
Virtus in medio posita est utrimque reducta says Horace.
"Virtue sits in the middle, equidistant from either extreme." The idea comes from Aristotle.
And Horace? He lived to see the extinction of the old Roman Republic--done in by pigheaded patriots that thought they were doing the right thing.
They weren't.
They merely paved the way for Julius Caesar--
--who was (by the way) a darn sight smarter, more capable than--
--never mind.
Thanks again, guys.
2
"Deeply, deeply cynical as I am about Mitt Romney, I would never argue that he wouldn’t be 10 times better a president. And while it’s true I once made fun of Romney’s dog, we have to remember that we now have the first president ever who has never had a pet in his entire life. That says something."
I guess that's why son's Donny and Eric enjoy killing beautiful wild animals for trophies.
Poor guys never had an unstuffed Kitty or Doggy to play with as children.
AND i heard that Herr Fred only let The Donald play with German soldiers.
Sad
Love AOC’s tax plan.
Brett, you’re an apologist for the most cancerous forms of late-stage capitalism. Rather depressing to read, given your Trump apostasy.
1
He warned us years ago -- in no uncertain terms -- never to elect him President.
But we refused to listen to him.
https://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2012/11/06/alfred-e-neuman-for-president-let-him-finish-the-job
1
Mr Stephens, the Republians abandoned the centre well before Donald Trump. I'd nominate the era of that old homophobic racist red-baiter Reagan as the death knell of GOP centrism (as well as arithmetic).
Trump is the logical outcome -- maybe even the only logical outcome -- of forty years of stealing from the poor to give to the rich, environmental wilful ignorance (and science denial), racism, homophobia, misogyny and bowing and scraping to religious extremism, all care of the Republican Party.
You own the big lug.
3
I have a modest proposal for a way out of this dilemma. A blockbuster superstar professional major league international trade.
We take one Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in exchange for Donald Trump and his first two wives and their spawn and two players to be named later and $5 billion in Russian rubles for the border wall. Melania Knavs Trump could share the White House with her fellow ethnic Slavic communist atheist. Barron would have real macho man dad.
Bob Mueller would be out of a job. Nancy Pelosi would have a new policy focus. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy could agree to be the players to be named later and become senior Russian legislative leaders.
MAGA! No collusion!
"But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service, from delivering mail to running an airline to providing a better quality of education. "
You live in a delusional alternate reality. Either that or you don't fly and don't use the PO.
What about prisons? The private ones are notorious for not living up to what they are supposed to be doing as well as costing a fortune.
Have you even talked to Veterans about their care? Most of them would tell you they are quite pleased.
3
Mr Stephens talks condescendingly about the "unworkability" of AOC's ideas, accusing her of ignorance of what happened to Francois Hollande when he raised the highest income tax rate to 70.per cent I wonder if he knows that the top rate in America was much higher during World War II, and stayed at 70 percent until 1980, a period when the middle class flourished. He probably doesn't know, too, that polls show 59 percent of Americans support that idea.
6
I cannot think of a single regulation created with the intention of imposing costs and restricting innovations. Can you give us an example, Bret?
3
"Presuming our president doesn’t have a visit from an angel who tells him that instead of building a wall he should concentrate on building — oh, I don’t know, a stairway to the stars?" You scoff, but just imagine how much such a stairway would save on getting the Space Force into orbit!
How about discussing Mitch McConnell?
1
I project he will go to Deutsche Bank, take out a loan for the $5.7 B (+ 20% for his brokerage commission) and put up our national parks as security for the loan.
If they balk, he can throw in the Senate and House buildings since they're not being used anyway.
1
I hereby invite Bret to my Libertarian BBQ Party where I cook the cheapest meat processed by slaughterhouses never regulated or inspected by anyone.
Bring your own health insurance.
3
Doesn't Mitt Romeny's wife have MS? Shouldn't that be mentioned every time he is -- that's he's taking a job that guarantees he's too busy to be there for his wife when she may need him? What could be more selfish?
Is it Nov. 2020 yet?? When we can vote out this absolutely incompetent administration and every single republican office holder in this country?
1
Almost nobody makes greater than $10MM a year in labor income. AOC has made no suggestion to change the capital gains tax rate (20%) or the dividend tax rate (22%) which is what rich people pay on their capital income. This proposal is simply virtue signalling, which is all Hollande's was in France, and why it was cancelled. It would effect extremely few people and raise essentially no revenue. I'm trying to decide whether it's worse if AOC does understand this, and is proposing it while cynically understanding that it is a stupid proposal designed to placate supporters who don't understand how taxes work, or whether she's the one who doesn't understand how taxes work. Either way, this young publicity hound once again gets no respect from me. She shows every sign of being full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, and likely to fade to insignificance quickly, probably after a scandal brought on by hubris.
3
So-called charter schools have had little oversight in Michigan. They've undermined our public school system by taking taxpayer money and giving it to greedy capitalists. (Not-greedy capitalists are A-OK) Puh-lease! No more privatization of public services. Wasn't privatizing telephone service enough?
1
Bret: Before you trash the VA for its medical care of veterans, of which I am one, perhaps you should do a little research. You might start here: https://www.rand.org/news/press/2016/07/18.html
You might also visit a VA hospital and interview a few patients who are actually receiving care there -- I for one have only the highest regard for the hard working, kind and competent staff at my local VA -- they have served me with the highest standards for years and allowed me quality care I could not otherwise have gotten.
The problems the VA faces do not originate with the VA, they rest with a Congress unwilling to provide an adequate budget and meaningful oversight (not to mention the a
constant increase in patients from the GOP's never ending wars). Turning the health care of veterans over to a greedy profit making health industry which does not understand veterans special needs and which has more than its own share of problems, is not a solution and would likely cost billions if not trillions more.
Not everything in the world can be better served by privatization, despite the Republican braying about government being the problem. Methinks you know not of what you speak.
3
to Bret,
I guess you haven't flown recently if you use airlines as an example of something being done better by the private sector than government could.
the post office does a wonderful with both hands tied behind their back. They are not allowed to compete with the private sector with things that are done in other countries and would be helpful in rural areas, for example, banking, sending faxes, etc. and they are required to fund their pension unlike many corporations. Worse still, the boobs in Congress get to review the rates they charge and interfere. Either leave them alone or give them government support.
1
"The last person to try a 70 percent-plus tax on the rich was François Hollande, the one-term former president of France, and it quickly proved an economic and political fiasco. Is it too much to ask even a young politician to be aware of recent history?" Is it too much to ask Bret Stephens to be aware of American history and someone other than "the last person"? Didn't I just read in none other than the NYTimes that the highest marginal tax rate in the U.S. was 90% until 1963, and then 70% until 1981? Terrible days, those 1950s-1970s, weren't they?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/opinion/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tax-policy-dance.html
2
As a friend of the USA, I too long to see the USA head back toward the moderate center but the only way that will happen is with an independent electoral commission, a preferential voting system and compulsory voting for everyone over the age of 18 (or 21).
And it is possible to have a tax payer funded universal health system, as a safety net, with a choice of private insurance without becoming a Marxist state.
1
"But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service, from delivering mail to running an airline to providing a better quality of education"
You missed the part about where the private sector's primary, nay ONLY, goal is to profit. Yes, at that the private sector is always better but we aren't in a supposedly collective and collaborative 21st century society to profit off education (or in my opinion, health care). Why does everything have to revolve around profits and money and making more at the expense of the many. We've seen how that works and it has brought us to where we are. Now why don't we try to evolve into a higher species and actually stop being a bunch of money grubbing opportunists.
1
So if the Dept. of Veterans affairs is privatized, then the managing corporation(s) will reap a profit by receiving government funds. This is no different than Medicatre Part D, where private insurance companies receive disbursements from social security payments. In DeVos' private schools and many charter ones, teachers are not unionized and may be fired at will without the protections of due process afforded in public schools.
1
I have heard that as an alternative to THE WALL (aka Trump's Folly) Trump is considering following Japan's approach to deter immigrants, which was to dig a moat around the country. "A big beautiful moat . . . filled with sharks so no one can cross it."
This could be integrated with a plan to offset the effects of global warming because as any graduate of Trump University knows, the Pacific ocean is several inches higher than the Atlantic, so logically the water will flow downhill, thereby lessening the impacts of the allegedly rising oceans by spreading the water around.
In fact, under ideal conditions, the water will continue to flow downhill to the Middle East where they really need it, and will pay us handsomely for it. (This was of course, based on his personal observations when he visited with Jared, Ivanka et al.)
If Trump doesn't get the Nobel for Literature, at least he has a shot at getting it for Physics.
1
Stephens still insists that he "can't think of many areas where the private sector doesn't do a better job than government of providing a service." Can't think of, or refuses to acknowledge? As it's worthless to even argue how in most of the developed world the government does a far better job of providing medical services to the entire population at a fraction of the cost, why even bother to mention the military, the police, and the public parks system? Any private military inevitably creates and perpetuates an authoritarian regime, which is precisely why the Founding Fathers didn't want one.
Imagine if Stephens had his way and the entire justice system was privatized. At times like this it's easy to forget that a founding principles of our country is that justice should be equal under the law. Further, while there's the pesky problem of Article 3 of the Constitution creating the judiciary, who is to say that hedge fund managers couldn't actually run the whole thing for less? We already have a system favoring the rich, so why not just give the whole thing over to them?
Finally, why not just chuck our entire tripartite government of checks and balances. It isn't working very well thanks to G.O.P. sabotage, so just let The Markets produce all winners and losers. You'd have nothing but monopolies, unlimited corporate power, child labor, slavery, and 24-hour work days, but it would be very efficient from the standpoint of the few oligarchs who owned everything.
3
Just when Bret Stephens is starting to win me over, he makes a comment that reveals his Republican bias toward for-profit government. Education and healthcare and other vital services should never depend solely on the profits that private industry can squeeze out of them.
172
"This is a country that desperately needs to rediscover its center."
Actually, it's a country that needs a remedial course in the truth.
For example:
Single-payer and universal healthcare are flourishing in every rich country EXCEPT America.
Most other rich countries are much more democratic than America.
Science is real.
Women's bodies don't belong to state, federal legislators and radical religious cults.
Guns kill people.
America has a regressive tax code, not a progressive one.
Publicly financed elections would be much cheaper than the current 0.1% financed elections that have produced oligarchic corruption fairly characterized as Russian-Republicanism.
Donald Trump cares so much about average Americans that his major accomplishments so far:
More pollution
More white spite
More 0.1% welfare
More division
More corporate supremacy
Enough pathological lies to last 100 lifetimes.
Republicans are not your friends unless you are a millionaire, a billionaire, a large multi-national corporation or someone who supports nationally-assisted suicide for the United States.
D to go forward; R for reverse...over the Trumpian-GOP cliffs of white spite.
396
@Socrates
Amen. Your message here is succinct and painfully accurate.
34
@Socrates
If reverse is over a cliff, where was forward coming from?
1
@Socrates
Amen!
11
OK, other commentators have pointed this out as well, but it can't be said enough: Bret "...70 percent-plus tax rate on the rich..." ...sure, it sounds like a proposal to tax all wealthy people at 70% on all their income...of course, however, it means that the wealthy and very wealthy pay the same income tax rate as everyone else on incomes up to the next tax bracket...there should be several other tax brackets above the ones we have now...50%, 60%...maybe even the 70% above the 10 million proposed...the top tax bracket in the late 40s into the 60s was 90%, and the economy was rolling along quite well...
2
I love when Republicans like Stephens break out the old saw about how great health care is when out of the hands of the government. Hope you don't die broke from a pre-existing condition! Name one country that HAS good private care that anyone can afford. As with Trump, Stephens and their ilk never produce any facts. Ask anyone in Britain, including the Brexit-losers (good luck with the coming apocalypse, by the way), whether they would like to do without the NHS and go private!
2
Bret says: "He understands that if he folds on wall funding, his presidency is effectively over." So, we have Trump because approximately 20% of the country would be mad about that? Talk about minority-majority rule. But that's the upside down world of Republican cowards, where the interests of individuals and their party far outweigh the interests and needs of the country.
2
Bret: "But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service, from delivering mail to running an airline to providing a better quality of education."
Duhhhh. Medicare.
2
Although I'm not a wartime vet or a 20 year retiree, the VA gives me care for service-related hearing loss. To continue getting that care they require an annual check-up. I have found the VA professional and support staff to be competent, friendly, and helpful, at least equal to what I find with private providers. I have found waiting times and getting appointments to be equal or better than with private providers. Finally I have found their social worker staff questions to be gently probing in ways that I never experience with private providers, which suggests that the VA seeks to detect and respond to social and economic distress as well as to strictly medical problems, which private providers generally ignore.
11
Could we drop the meme that AOC is stupid and ill informed? I think that she is unusually smart and well informed by the standards of US politics.
If Mr Stephens is going to criticize her tax rates, could he at least take the time to read her proposal and respond to her points about the high income tax rates that the US had in the past?
4
Perhaps the US isn't a country that desperately needs to rediscover its center. Fact is, the political party of the people picked up 40 seats in the House of Representatives in the most recent election. Voters seemed to have understood that the President's political party, in control of the White House, the Senate and the House since January of 2017 and for all of 2018, never exercised their authority to order federal payment for constructing a wall across our southern border. The President waited until his party lost control of the House of Representatives before he said that he would shut the government if funding was not provided for his barrier. Why didn't he play this game when his party was completely in control? Why didn't the stalwart leaders of the Senate insist on a wall being funded, when the party of the people would have been unable to resist their majority in government? Answer these simple questions and you may see that the "center" is not lost at all.
5
This weekly dialog is a good addition to the opinion section.
2
And we need to find the center why? If the center worked so well, why the society prefers the division? Maybe, after all the center is not so great. Maybe, we should look not for the center, but rather for solutions of the problems, no mater where these solutions are coming: center, right or left
2
A major problem with contracting out government services is that the project is proposed as saving taxpayers money, and may do so, at first. But once the private sector, especially the corporate sector (and medicine is increasingly corporate), gets a foot in the door, the fees charged the VA for private care will go up dramatically within a few years. Corporate medicine will determine where the veteran will go for specialized treatment, which providers are available to see, etc.
Long wait times can be taken care of by funding the VA for the numbers of veterans seen at a time when those numbers are increasing due to almost twenty years of war deployments.
It is true that there has been incompetence and scandal in the VA. When I was with the VA not that many years ago, the Secretary of the VA awarded a billion dollar contract to a private company to conduct medical examinations, then within a few months left the VA to become president of that company. It is political appointees who have been the biggest scoundrels. The scandal over hidden wait lists was about administrators taking dishonest shortcuts to make wait times seem less than they actually were. They should be held accountable. Again, funding for appropriate staffing levels would alleviate this problem. As for copays, VA charges on an income based system with no minimum copay, and never charges a copay for treating a condition caused by military service.
5
An amusing opening to the New Year with this first exchange between two grey owlets, where neither lost a feather, and where the past two years have been long and a trudge to maintain one's equilibrium.
Looking forward to reading what the commentators have to add, as to weather the cruel national ravages of 2019 are yet over, and to Ms. Gail Collins and Mr. Bret Stephens, look sharp for your ship may well be about to sail in.
Everybody bends the truth according their prefer ideology, including Bret when for example he compare one good private school to average/bad public one. I can make the opposite case by compare one good public school with average/bad of private ones. He also somehow forgot that in many countries the Government involved in healthcare, and yet these countries have good healthcare that is significantly cheaper than in the US. And the marginal taxes higher than 70% were in the USA in 40s and 50s. Sure, they came down, the results are not very impressive - crisis in 70s, crisis in 80s, crisis in 2000, Great Recession in 2008, not to mention stagnated salaries and stunned growth. So, seems like lower taxes do not work very well.
4
We had a marginal tax rate over 70% , on the highest incomes, in the US from ~1940-~1980. This includes the decades when the US was an indisputable economic power, and some of the most prosperous decades in its history. This is indisputable. Bret knows this, even if he states otherwise. Stop lying about the US history of marginal tax rates, Republicans.
10
Speaking of history Brett: our top tax rate was between 70-90% in the horrific economic years between 1945-1980.
Sounds like a pretty ‘workable’ solution to me.
6
One doubts that Bret Stephens has ever set foot in a VA hospital. After Obama took office, changes were made in VA hospitals and in the Northwest they deliver excellent care to veterans. And for free.
3
Yes Brett, love the progressives who send their kids to private schools. I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut with that crowd. I believe in public education as did many of the country’s founders. John Adams wrote in the Massachusetts state constitution that it was the duty of the state to provide for the education of the people. Jefferson helped create the modern type school districts in Virginia. He said each person in the district should pay tax towards funding the schools based on “his general tax rate” and that this would “throw on wealth the education of the poor”. On the other hand, as one with experience in the trenches of the public schools I know our education system needs fundamental change and yes more money. The problems are exponentially greater than ever.
2
I get my healthcare from my local VA because it is better than what I get through private doctors and Medicare even though it costs more. When America was great under Ike we had a 90% tax rate.
6
Private Schools ONLY SERVE to take money from the public schools AND DE-UNIFY the education. This will only serve to create divisions in our society that amount to stratification and class separation of the students as they have completely different understandings of the world and country and our place in the universe. BELIEVER schools will teach creation while SCIENCE schools will teach universal understandings that will advance humanity. We will have tRump after tRump in a never ending grid locked government where the FILTHY RICH run it all.
5
Gail and Bret are way too congenial for the Times that we are experiencing.
They do send my mind into creative wandering mode. While they were describing the coagulation of our government I could visualize a giant orange hair ball(well coiffed and sprayed) stuck in the drain of Government.
I also envisioned the legendary Golden Retriever heroically roof surfing his way to Canada atop the Romney Family Truckster - I could hear Holiday Road playing in the background.
Is it possible that these past two millennia of Trump have really only been two years?
My brain seems to be disengaging - I feel like perhaps The Donald's reign has dislodged the reality module from my frontal cortex.
Hey, maybe we can rename him Alice?
1
Would evidence that VA patient outcomes are better than private sector outcomes be of interest here?
Weeks, WB, and West, AN
Ann Intern Med. 2018 Dec 11. doi: 10.7326/M18-1540. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
PMID: 30535282
5
It's hard to think of any area of life that Trump and his cronies don't infect any more, from healthcare to sex to friendships and families, let alone all governmental functions. I'd rather have a somewhat overzealous freshman representative like AOC than Trump any day. She'll learn. He won't.
4
@Barbara She is our future - he our sorry, sad, shameful past.
1
Having lived in Park Slope, and being a progressive, I find Mr. Stephens point to be dead on.
"...park Slope progressives who, for ideologically mysterious reasons, somehow wound up sending their kids to private schools like Poly Prep or St. Ann’s instead of their local public schools."
The question basically is, if you have the money, do you give your kids the best education you can, or do you patronize your local public school. I was faced with this choice in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. I chose the public school.
To me early childhood education in the U.S. is the real national disaster. Every citizen should be afforded the opportunity to obtain an equivalent education. Among many other systemic problems is the allocation of education funds to districts based on on median home value, a lance in the heart of common education.
3
@Michael Having lived in Park Slope for 30-years, I cannot speak highly enough of the education my daughter received in the public schools..from PS 321 to Murrow. It's easy (and sometimes necessary) to poke fun at the Slope's expense, but the excellence of public education provided in the area is not one of them.
2
@Mikebnews I took it more as why do liberals not send their kids to public schools, which they claim to support. The most sure sign of support is patronage.
bret should read Paul Krugman's columns on the tax proposal. It is only distasteful to those making a boatload of money, ie 10 million a year.
of course Bret also knows single payer is not going to be anything like the VA, so that is all misdirection on his part.
7
"Bret: I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation. But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service, from delivering mail to running an airline to providing a better quality of education."
Does Mr. Stephens actually believe that our government imposes regulations with the INTENT of imposing costs and restricting innovation? THAT'S paranoia. Or a lie. Let readers decide.
As for the private sector doing the better job, the many areas Mr. Stephens "can't think of," he can't think of because the private sector isn't involved in them -- for excellent and compelling reasons. Thus Americans don't use the private sector to regulate/guide drugs and medical devices (FDA), healthcare research/delivery (HHS), the airwaves (FCC), air transportation (FAA), scientific (NSF) and biomedical (NIH) research, the safety/reliability of consumer products (CPSC), the safety/reliability of transportation (NTSB, NHTSA), employment discrimination (EEOC), the insurance of bank deposits (FDIC), banks and other financial institutions (CFPB, SEC), disaster relief (FEMA), fair trade/business (FTC), interstate commerce (ICC), workplace safety (OSHA), nuclear energy (NRC), fair labor practice (NLRB), etc., etc. *All highly successful government services.* Again, let readers decide if Mr. Stephens is telling the truth.
7
As usual, Bret engages in deceptive arguments to support his positions. On the VA system, he extrapolates to assert that "Americans should be wary of ever embracing government-run health care as the norm." But he certainly knows that progressive ideas for healthcare, especially the so-called 'Medicare for all", have nothing in common with the VA system. Under both the Senate and the House bills, healthcare would be provided by private doctors, not government employees, and hospitals would remain private. Both of these bills would eliminate for-profit insurance as the primary means of paying private providers for services. At the outset, this would save money by removing shareholder expectations of profit and gargantuan executive salaries, not to mention the duplication of multiple corporate overheads. But a public system would also impose realistic and much-needed checks on private companies that deliver healthcare, and the unconscionable prices they charge.
Likewise, Bret is too smart not to realize that AOC is talking about a marginal rate of 70% on $10 million. But his clever phrasing gives the impression that she wants 70% from the first dollar. And given the woeful ignorance of much of the American population, Republicans can count on this kind of misleading rhetoric to sway voters.
Bret may complain about Trump's behavior, but he engages in the same kinds of misleading and duplicitous talk that has characterized Trump's administration.
8
A lot of rich people's income isn't taxable. They're paying taxes on a tiny percentage of what they actually take in every year. Just make all of their income taxable (or even more of it(, and there'll be no need for a 70-percent tax on people like that "Ken" guy of Barbie and Ken (Ivanka and that husband of hers).
3
The V.A. has been a scandal-ridden mess because it was underfunded and not allowed to say so, but rather forced to pretend that all was going well or would soon be going well. Its top leadership was political and not medical. Dubya's wars gave it a whole bunch of new customers and no new resources, so that the false appearance of an inexpensive, successful war could be maintained (which was the way the whole war was fought).
Private sector health care does a better job of increasing its share of our national product, which is not surprising since it exists to make money. Competition between health care providers reduces the money they make, while competition with the rest of the economy increases it. In other countries, where private health care is marginal or controlled by government, similar results are achieved with far less money.
If the V.A. scandals exemplify government-run health care, then Purdue Pharma exemplifies private sector health care. The V.A. could be cured by more resources, and perhaps by recruiting doctors by selling them the idea that they can practice medicine, not have to worry about money, and make a decent but not great living doing what they love. We do not know how to cure our Purdue Pharmas or clean up the messes they make; to celebrate their sector is morally and financially myopic (to put it nicely).
8
The authors looked for an analogy of following the president's movements and came up with goldfish in a bowl. (There words, not mine). Another different image is this: the press are kite runners. When a kite breaks its string, kids run to get the prize when it falls. The trouble here is that the kite flies back on and on in the wind, never hitting the ground. Even if it is not a prize, it is mesmerizing.
Just look at the disaster of privatized Medicaid with no oversight in Iowa. Costs more. Delivers less.
4
Regulation is ALWAYS to prevent abuses, except perhaps when it is to ENCOURAGE innovation.
In my opinion, there are only two problems with The Fabulous AOC's (hey, if Ruth Bader Ginsburg can have that kind of nickname...) tax rate proposal:
1) it doesn't affect unearned income, which means there's still a huge loophole for many earning megabucks; and
2) I believe that the tax rate needs to start on somewhat lower incomes, like perhaps $5m and up.
The biggest fight she's going to face from the general public isn't the idea of taxing the rich; it's that many people don't understand marginal tax rates--they only affect the income that's actually in the bracket in question instead of affecting all of your income.
I am very much looking forward to more of The Fabulous Right Honorable AOC. Assuming she holds firm to her principles, which I do so assume, and that we still have a republican in the White House, which I don't, what she will run for in 2024--she turns 35 that October, after all.
4
The thing is, absurd as it seems, those who make/have that kind of money don’t think it’s enough, their values become so corrupted their vision is distorted - it’s the “ system” don’t you know.
1
Mr. Stephens insulted my daughter's pet goldfish with the comparison to Donald Trump. "Mr. Spotty" is very rational and makes excellent decisions. He is also far more attractive than the President.
6
love these two going at it!!! Smart stuff
The whole United States has just about been privatized by the Koch Bros and other billionaires (including the DeVos family) to enrich themselves even further — how’s that working out for the rest of us?
9
Brett: "I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation."
Soooooo Brett, when can we expect your column that advocates giving Medicare the ability to negotiate with drug companies on drug prices?????
7
Stephens throwaway criticism of a 70% (highest) tax bracket is even more ignorant of history than A.O.C.'s. We had such a bracket from the 40s to the 70s. Schools and a vast highway system were built, the middle-class thrived. Then the Republicans started drastically lowering tax rates on the super rich and what do we get—LaGuardia Airport. Bret, learn your history before you spout it.
12
Now Gail, be fair to yourself: you didn’t make fun of poor Seamus per se, just his -ahem- unusual travel accommodations. On the roof of Mitt’s car.
2
Predicting what Trump will do is like trying to guess which way the goldfish swims next.
If we could listen in that goldfish is talking to itself in the voice of Betty Boop and each time it changes direction exclaims - Oh, a shutdown! Oh, Robert Mueller! Oh, Nancy Pelosi! Oh, a shutdown!
Bret,
Private insurance companies operate at administrative costs of say, 12 to 17 percent. The Social Security Administration, in all its years, has maintained less than 2% administrative costs.
So, yeah, except for facts, private enterprise always does better than public.
And you didn't even sop as you skipped over the failure of charter schools when it was waved in front of you.
How about healthcare. Who in the world has the healthcare system with the most private incentives built into it? Who has the most expensive and least effective health care system?
Cheap questions, one answer for both: it's US we're number one.
This Conservative market worship is a faded and frayed clown suit. Let's just point out that it's a darling theory, with only the facts against it.
7
Typical journalists. Analyzing a year based on its first two weeks. Like sportscasters discussing who will likely win the Super Bowl based on the results of the first week of play. You are paid to analyze the news, not predict it. Predictions are just bar stool talk - interesting perhaps but inconsequential and meaningless.
1
@Jay Orchard Boy, you really don't get the concept behind the Gail Collins/Bret Stephens column. You don't get the facts either, since what they're doing IS analysis (with a touch of humor). They're not trying to channel Jeanne Dixon.
1
What's impressive is how clueless Stephens is. We had, for decades, a 70 percent tax on the rich. Most of the time we had it, the GDP grew faster than it's growing now. Jeez, we had, for quite some time, a 90 percent tax on the rich, and again, the GDP grew faster. So why exactly is AOC's proposal unworkable?
6
Brett Stephens has been illuminating to read and I like his columns. But his belief that the private sector does everything better than the public seems like a fixed belief even in the face of contrary evidence (ie-a delusion).
The post office is very effective at its mission, and saying that rich people sending their kids to very expensive private schools is an argument that public education doesn't work is just silly.
Your conclusions in that paragraph really seem to be drawn from your preconceived notions, not from "facts"
7
Come on, everyone. The solution is simple - except for the main roadblock, which is mitch McConnell. Send the budget bill without the wall, let Trump veto it, then override his veto. It feeds his base, who can support their feckless leader and holler, "They done him wrong" - and opens government and proves that Congress cares more about people than walls.
6
Actually, Gail, you made fun of Romney, but had sympathy for the dog.
1
Government bad! Regulation bad! Privatizing good! Neanderthal Republican political cudgel. All the nuance and depth of a water puddle. Replace Stephens with a high school freshman that just watched Fox News for 30 minutes and you would get the same tired small government balderdash, but without the smug self-assured tone.
5
Want to expose the big lie with "school choice"? Just hand every kid a voucher.
1
Bret,
Private insurance companies operate at administrative costs of say, 12 to 17 percent. The Social Security Administration, in all its years, has maintained less than 2% administrative costs.
So, yeah, except for facts, private enterprise always does better than public.
And you didn't even hop as you skipped over the failure of charter schools when it was waved in front of you.
How about healthcare? Who in the world has the healthcare system with the most private incentives built into it? Who has the most expensive and least effective health care system?
Cheap questions, one answer for both: it's US; we're number one.
This Conservative market worship is a faded and frayed clown suit. Let's just point out that it's a darling theory, with only the facts against it.
3
First-Universal health care for everyone including Vets would solve many problems and stop the greedy pigs stealing our medical dollars. It would have everyone with equal care.
Second- AOC is totally correct in her tax proposal. Every time, for many years and many attempts, it has been shown that a HMTax rate above 50% works very well to reduce debt and increase GDP . Yes, Bret, check it out. Also her proposal was only on and amount one makes above 10 million- effects about 16,000 people out of 400 million. I enjoy your clever comments but note you are often ill informed about details.
1
It's not true that Trump has never had pets. He's always had pets. They were called tenants, contractors, lawyers and now federal workers, taxpayers and the American public. Wait, did I say pets? I meant hostages.
1
Uh, you think 2020 is going to be better? First of all Trump thinks the shutdown could still be going on. Also, the shutdown could still be going on. After all that's what Putin wants, and many times that's what we get. If the American electorate remains as selfish as they are, nothing's getting better. As long 'Redmerica' believes that it's all abortions fault, and 'Bluemerica' believes that it's all money's fault, don't look for things to get better any time soon.
"...it's true I once made fun of Romney's dog..."
Yes, just that once.
1
I've got two words for you: Space Wall!
Gail, you're such a class act on your own. Why team up with a man who claims the scales fell from his eyes about Trump but still denies climate change and is seen still as a neo-conservative. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/09/20/bret-stephens-neocon-vision.html
Drop him, Gail, he's going to be trouble.
6
Saw a AOC photo & article [again] yesterday on front page of NYT [& undoubtedly many other major publications.]
We do realize she can't place herself on front page ... correct?
3
Why do they even have a GOP commenting here? They never make sense and are offensive to readers. Get rid of uptight in-denial types like too-white-never-right Stephens, whose ideas and takes are just plain wrong, and hire better affirmative-action men for a change.
I will not spread false reports, nor will I help a wicked man by being a malicious witness. (Exodus 23:1)
Lying lips are hateful to the Lord, but He delights in those who deal faithfully. (Proverbs 12:22)
2
Trump beholden to Putin because he holds information that could end his presidency in disgrace is the most important issue congress and journalists need to explore in depth. Trump is a corrupt lying bully and has infected every phase of government with his corrupt intent. The situation is urgent and requires exposure to make sure Trump does not continue to destroy our government to please Putin or else Trump only values himself so pleasing Putin is his goal.
Brett: "Nobel Prize. For Literature." brilliant, my laugh of the day! thank you.
Gail: Chuck is very good at his job?!?!?! was this ....say...an attempt at humor? seriously?
AOC: give her a break; she is 1 voice among hundreds of Dems in congress; 70% tax is going nowhere (AND you know it Brett), she won't get a leadership position as a freshman; besides the media (as they do) will be distracted by the next shiny object.
Please, Gail and Brett, can’t you just make it all go away? The best thing you can do to a bully is ignore him.
1
“... Otherwise, as Frank Bruni pointed out in his latest column, we run the risk of becoming his accomplices in amplifying his voice when we should be trying to diminish it.”
Sorry, mainstream media. You already are a Marshall-size amplifier for the current occupant of the Oval Office. You are his distraction enablers and his perfect foil. He speaks, you write, he tweets, and his loyal subjects blame you.
The only way out is abstinence...and we all know how well that works in, say, teenage sex.
1
Cheer up. In 20 years, Trump will be dead of old age, and his vacuous children will be squandering the inheritance and no doubt suing each other.
1
Bret,
You could set an example by renouncing your Republican party membership.
And also explain please again why you want Roe V. Wade overturned?
1
Privatization of the VA is a terrible idea; the quality of care will go down to what are now country-wide norms of civilian dysfunction and the cost will go up to account for the profit rake of corporate providers.
As a veteran I will state emphatically that the last thing I want is to see my brothers and sisters sacrificed once again to the greed and myopia of a country that talks a good game; but (with a nod to H.L. Mencken) clearly knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Cast into private healthcare the unique issues confronted by veterans will be just another entry on a chart, divorced from the whole person and their life experience.
Forget it, Bret.
1
The VA was originally established to treat war wounded veterans. It was not universal veteran healthcare.
Two events changed things:
1. Vets with health problems could be taken if there was an empty bed. So, a guy who served for 2 years 20 years ago who was injured in a car accident might be taken in. Over time, the beds fill up with non-war wounded.
2. The VA decided that any or all diseases that could possibly be associated with service would be treated by the VA. That single decision exploded the veteran population qualified for care beyond the VA's ability to deliver care.
In addition, social mores have changed. Just look at the PTSD claim rates. There is no blood test (yet) for PTSD.
Once you introduce lifetime health insurance, retirement 'housing,' and stipends into the equation, long lines begin to form.
The VA has historically been a leader in treating war wounds.
Once you create the expectation that all veterans are entitled to lifetime care, you can't unring that bell.
The military has already gone to TRICARE for military families, and offered health insurance to veterans. Therefore, moving to a form of health insurance for veterans is reasonable, IF you re-focus the VA on researching and treating war wounds.
Lots of folks will scream, but the system needs to move to a very strong Vocational Rehabilitation model. A system that simply gives people money for being sick/injured without mandatory treatment and job training is simply unethical.
2
Bret, it appears you have forgotten the real reason people with the wherewithal to send their children to private schools do so more for the networks and connections they can then tap into. How many undergrads in the nation's elite private colleges, the springboard for their progeny's entry into the upper class, come from public schools?
As an administrator at one such place, I can tell you the overwhelming majority of the most recent incoming class of freshmen didn't come from any school in NYC district 4. They came from Poly Prep and St. Ann's.
The private sector does a great job - if you have the money to pay for it. Not so great, for example, for the people who live in areas without fresh groceries, that use costly bank-cashing services. There's a reason rural electrification only came after gov't intervention. Markets cater to the people who can pay them, and the better they pay, the more they cater. So if the top 10% of Americans own 80% of the wealth, and the bottom 50% own 1% of the wealth, well who do you think is going to be served well by the market.
The true nature of conservative objections to gov't doing stuff was revealed in the healthcare debate. What they really don't like is their taxpayer dollars going to subsidize services for other people. Is there any reason to believe that the private sector would run better than the VA for the money being spent? There are many efficiencies - in billing, in maintaining records - in places like the VA. As someone who worked on Hospital information systems, I can tell you that the systems are primitive, and transferring data from one medical group to another is frought with problems. There is no economic incentive for different providers in different networks to work closely with one another.
As we know, Obama's determination to go with market oriented healthcare reform, that was palatable to private insurers - was rejected every Republican. What they want is a caveat emptor healthcare market, where those who can pay get the best care in the world.
1
I’m a Vietnam vet, a 70-something professional with multiple service-connected medical issues. I get all my medical care at the VA Medical Center in Manhattan because I find it far superior to the healthcare I get through my job. Everything’s done online and I never have to deal with getting clearance or co-pays or finding a specialist. They do everything. Nearly everyone on the staff that I deal with is a competent, caring professional. Yes, I do have to wait for appointments sometimes. Is there a medical system mere mortals can afford that doesn’t sometimes make us wait?
When you criticize the VA medical system I wish you’d stop to recognize that it’s not the system as a whole, it’s particular hospitals that are problematic. I have no idea what the percentages are like nationwide, but most of the vets I know are quite disturbed about the possibility of seeing funding diverted away from a system that’s been providing us with more than adequate care. Before making any radical move, please talk to a wider cross-section of vets.
6
My goal for 2019 is continue to comment about the president without actually using his name. I've managed it for 2 years; hoping I don't have to continue this for another 2 years.
And could someone please tell AOC that there's nothing easier than spending someone else's money? Perhaps instead of trying to think about how to convince people to pay more taxes, she and her compatriots should get into the nitty-gritty of the budget and do a better job with the money we already send to Washington.
@JM: it is super easy for a part time bartender with zero experience in less than TWO WEEKS in Congress to tell everyone else how to run the US Government.
2
The pendulum must swing in both directions --- it never swings to the right (or left) and then comes back to stop at dead center. 50 years of deteriorating income equality, wealth accumulation, a consumer-driven economy and an utter abandonment of socially beneficial spending on education, health care and infrastructure (just for starters) are all pushing that pendulum back to the left. It will continue in that direction until we get some semblance of fairness and justice in this country that isn't defined by the stock market or the size of your house.
This country needs to get over the panic inducing belief that any proposal containing the word "social" is a proposal to become Sweden or the Soviet Union. If the only way your pendulum swings is from the right to the center, your clock is broken.
5
Once again, Stephens shows his dyed-in-the-wool capitalist nature. According to him and his kind, everything is a market. What he knows but doesn't acknowledge is that markets are inherently cruel. We already have a cruel healthcare system. Do we really need to inject cruelty into education? Collins says, okay, privatize, but regulate, regulate, regulate. But when regulations are rolled back as they inevitably are, we're left with the cruelty plus the bloated government put in place to oversee the regulations.
2
Bret , he wins the Nobel for lit in poetry, a poetry of candor, sweetness, uplift and swishterhood.
Bret Stephens should realize our democracy is on fire, and we no longer have the luxury of criticizing politicians like Romney for being calculating. All our senators are calculating. At least Romney is challenging Trump's insanity.
Even Gail acknowledges Romney would be many many times better than Trump. It has become a common these days to become nostalgic for even abysmal Republicans like George W.
4
Mr. Stephens is doing the old Republican/Conservative/Evangelical Axis trick of finding a few startling cases and calling it a trend. His attempt to justify privatizing the VA is a classic example of this bait and switch. The goal here is to enrich the private insurers and private hospital groups, not to better care for Veterans. The one statement from the Times article he quotes that he doesn't is the one about privatization costing MORE taxpayer money not less for MOST patients using the already available option in some instances. Right now, government workers are paid markedly LESS than their private counterparts. There is no layer of profit that must be increased every year. There are not 3 middle men that must be paid, like the military procurement process where a $2 item ends up costing $200. My Dad was a civilian engineer working for the Navy and he told me many times that government specs were not the reason things cost so much. But hey, with all those Republican hands out for their share, what do you expect Bret to say? I doubt he would ever make an argument for the good of everyone, its just not in the R/C/E Axis' DNA.
4
I was not going to comment until I read your last comment regarding a coup. This declaration of a national emergency talk truly has me concerned. And the lack of depth of discussion has me wondering why it is being taken so lightly. (OK, I know this particular opinion piece is supposed to be light hearted. And I thank you!) The declaration would not only side step the people our government represents, but also the government. It all sounds so Venezuelan. It seems no more checks and balances. I thought the flaw in our Democracy was that a Trump could be elected. Would this power to declare a national emergency, especially whether there is one or not, be our Achilles heel?
5
Charter schools, for-profit schools, private prisons, private armies all do, generally, far, far worse than well-run (even decently run) public institutions.
And regulations? When I was a small child, a car seat was a metal and plastic contraption that hung over the seat back and had a toy steer wheel. Seat belts were for airplanes and race cars, whiplash-preventing head restraints were unheard of, 4-way flashers were a dozen years in the future, gas tanks were filled from under the license plate, backup lights were an option, and the steer column regularly speared the driver propelled by engine--crumple zones and crash resisting frames didn't exist. And gas was filled with lead and there was NO pollution control.
By the time of the 1973 gas lines, I was a college freshman and cars came off the line with 7 or 8 mpg ratings. Ford Pintos were the worst of the "exploding gas tank" cars.
Regulation made ALL of this change, and the car and oil companies fought it all tooth and nail...and still do.
Think about it.
11
@Dadof2 Nailed it!
One important lesson we should learn from Trump is that Congress has ceded too much power to Presidents over the past century and that the safeguards in the Constitution are inadequate to keep a true bad actor in check. We need major change to our systems of governance, but I don't see who can propose and enact those changes.
4
"I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation." Can we get a fact checker on Stephens, please. I would like to know which regulations have been enacted simply to "impose costs and restrict innovation".
Maybe those regulations that cleaned up Pittsburgh's rivers?
Or the ones that were supposed to protect the drinking water of Flint, MI?
Or the clean air laws passed?
Or the EPA that Nixon innovated?
Or those that restrict truck operators from driving on our highways with no sleep?
Or..... "The last person to try a 70 percent-plus tax on the rich was François Hollande," I seem to remember a fellow named Roosevelt who initiated something like, or more than, a 70 percent-plus tax on high earners and wealth that put America on the longest and biggest economic expansion ever.
40 years after the New Deal America was humming right along.
40 years after Reagan we can't fill our potholes.
AOC at least has the integrity to admit to being wrong.
Our resident so called conservatives here in these pages can't do even that.
14
@Bob Laughlin, great post, but please do not overlook IKE-- the last honest republican--who kept those high tax rates as we were building the largest economy in history.
8
@karen And if memory serves, the highest marginal tax rate during the Eisenhower administration was......90%. Ninety.
@Bob Laughlin: I do not know how France handled it, but in the US ....Nobody ever paid 70% or 91% or any other high marginal rates.
Literally NOBODY. Look it up. Google is your friend.
When rates were that high...there were 10,000 loopholes and deductions and rich people took every single one of them.
1
Mr. Stephens asks, “Is it too much to ask even a young politician to be aware of recent history?”
No, but is it too much to ask for us all to be aware of 20th-century U.S. history? For most of the fifties, a time of strong economic growth in this country, the top federal income tax rate was 91%. Maybe A.O.C. is more aware than you think.
15
@Massi: Nobody ever paid 70% or 91% or any other high marginal rates.
Literally NOBODY. Look it up. Google is your friend.
When rates were that high...there were 10,000 loopholes and deductions and rich people took every single one of them.
1
Slings at single-payer health care can be so tiresome. First of all, Mr. Stephens, there is no bill for government-run health care. They call for government-funded, or to be more accurate, citizen-funded nonprofit health care. Under a plan such as HR 676, which has been in Congress for more than a decade which has given you plenty of time to read it, the V.A. system would eventually disappear because there would be no need for it. It would be absorbed into the larger system and would no longer be run by the government. The bills would be paid by the government. Our taxes would go for nonprofit health care instead of making huge profits for insurance companies. And why couldn't Ms. Collins make that point?
7
"That’s bad news for the country, precisely because it sets a precedent future presidents will abuse for their own partisan purposes."
I love when @gop voters excuse the insane actions of Trump by pointing to how future Democrats might do the same horrible thing. Isn't it enough to be offended NOW that our President has jumped the shark and seems completely untethered to traditional norms and, indeed, reality?
10
Agree that too much energy is wasted discussing 45. He loves the attention, so disappoint him. Focus on our hurting society with his toxic "policies" and 800, 000+ government hostages.
11
@Marylee - and just referencing "45" is helpful, too. Keep's someone's name from being everywhere. I'll try to follow that lead.
5
@b fagan, I cannot even write his name. Horrified by him.
1
What is unworkable about a 70% marginal tax rate. People making more than a million per year should be paying 70% on everything over a million. It was 90-95% under Ike and people still got rich while he was able to build the interstate highway system and send millions of vets to college. JFK lowered it to 70%, which is more workable than the present system. The wealth gap just keeps growing and growing while the GOP lowers the taxes on those best able to pay them.
7
@Caded, agree. And oddly enough, those high tax rates existed in an era of a much smaller delta between the income and wealth of those in the c-suite and everyone else. Now we are talking about applying high taxes to income that is so out of wack towards the c-suite and other wealth-protectors as to be obscene.
2
I'd love Mr. Stephens to point me to the private mail delivery system that works better than the Post Office. How much does it cost UPS or FedEx to deliver a letter? Same with those private schools. If we were willing to spend 2-3x as much per pupil, I'm betting public schools would be terrific. Can't Brett going for that, unless it was restricted to wealthy neighborhoods. And what's the over/under on when he calls for cuts to the VA when costs soar?
8
"I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation."
Can you name one regulation that was passed because people sat down and said "Let's pass a regulation simply in order to impose a cost. Or, even better, to restrict innovation!"?
8
Is it really a problem to pay higher taxes after you've made $10 million dollars in a year?
459
@City Mouse/Country Mouse
If someone has a lifestyle that requires $10 million/year simply to maintain, higher taxes might be an inconvenience. Trump's cabinet is filled with those families, as is our ruling class in general. Also, if your income is $10 million/year, it's embarrassing to have it suddenly become $7 million.
16
Why would it become 7 million if the 70% tax rate is on income after the first ten million?
67
@Zejee too many people don't understand marginal tax rates.
71
Let's see how many people are really willing to go back to the 1950s tax rate:
More specifically, the first bracket starts at 20% for the lowest level of income and goes up from there as compared to 10% now. The median household will pay ~22% (including payroll) as opposed to 17% today (including payroll).
I'm doubtful that people actually want to go back to total rates of the 50s and have their own taxes rise; rather, the fervid commenters here want to have other people pay more while they pay less.
1
@NYC Moderate
I don't have the particulars but I think the idea is to raise the marginal tax rate back to where it was in the early '80s - not sure where the rate would kick in, but that would only kick in after someone has surpassed that threshold. I haven't heard anyone suggesting raising taxes on the lowest earners.
4
@Diego
the marginal tax rate in 1980 started at 14% for income between $6 to $12K (in constant today's dollars) and rises to 31% at $53K (in today's dollars). the median HH income is a bit over $55K today so it looks like taxes would be between 22% and 25% for the average family (including payroll) as compared to 17% today.
My point is that its one thing to say "let's all go back to the past to those rates and we all have our taxes raised" and a completely different thing to say "your taxes goes up to the past but mine stay low."
I'm fine with everyone's taxes going up but not selectively as the enacted tax cuts were across the board not ONLY for the wealthy.
1
@NYC Moderate
Why is that the only way to do taxes? Maybe poorer peoples' taxes should stay where they are. Especially since the recent tax cut on low(er) income people evaporates fairly soon anyway.
Government is not the problem and the market is not the solution. Regulation is not burdensome and it does not restrict innovation when it forces polluters to clean up their messes, when it prevents business from reaping a profit while imposing burdens and costs on society. Republicans have drunk their free market Kool Aid for so long that they cannot think clearly about how government must regulate markets to ensure that markets serve the country.
After fifty years, it's time to end the era of corporate welfare and wealthy donors controlling politics. The time has come to restore effective market regulation that promotes unions, effective antitrust policies, and insists that no bank or corporation is too big to fail.
November 3, 2020.
382
@OldBoatMan
Agree with you completely. Very well said.
21
@OldBoatMan
Agreed. Republicans want unregulated capitalism, which is an evil thing that sacrifices the health and lives of people in the service of profits. If they want capitalism to survive, they should want it regulated, that is, forced to care about the country and its citizens. Unregulated capitalism will eventually lead to revolution.
21
@OldBoatMan
Nice column!
Good idea to write about something, anything other than Trump. Bret your right about the VA, I'm sure your aware that Trump was able to get passed a regulation that allows the VA to fire someone who is incompetent, thereby impeding excellent Vet care. Obama couldn't after trying for several years.
So Bret, you think the purpose of regulations is to “simply impose costs and restrict innovation”? Not to, say, protect the public good, or ensure an even playing field between those who are inclined to do the right thing vs. those willing to cheat?
344
@Kathy Balles And, I'm pretty sure no regulations are enacted to "simply impose costs and restrict innovation." How did Gail let Bret get away with that transparent absurdity?
56
@Kathy Balles, Gail let Brett off too easily in this whole article. Going for the old Seamus the dog jokes instead of engaging on what are truly fundamental issues for society. Do we want regulation and if so, by whom? Brett's insistence that regs are put in place with the idea of stalling innovation and imposing costs is absurd but remains one of the GOP's long-lasting sentiments. Are fines for running red lights enacted ONLY to raise money for the fining agency? Or is there broad agreement that only a fine will stop scoff laws from running said lights?
28
@Kathy Balles
Regulation is simply a attempt to seek orderly resolution to inherent conflicts of interest. It does not occur arbitrarily in a vacuum.
Today, "regulation" is like the fable of The Blind Men and the Elephant. Pols rail against it as a generic, and it's a crowd pleaser as each listener vaguely remembers some annoyance with rules.
15
Whenever I hear someone pick on the post office, I usually ask them... will UPS or FedEx will deliver my letter across the country for $0.50? Will FedEx come to my house every day to deliver my Amazon packages, apparently more cost - effectively than UPS used to, and check to see if I'm sending anything? Will they take my 30 Christmas cards to all points of the country for 15 bucks? No? Then find another whipping boy to 'prove' that government can't do anything right to make your case that we should get a company larded up with multi-million dollar executives, shareholders, and lobbyists to do the job.
697
@Zack So why can't USPS cover their costs of doing business? Not necessarily in favor of privatization but.... come on, of course FedEx won't charge 50 cents.....and neither should USPS. A little reality here?
4
@Zack, and BTW, those same postal employees create passports: will there be a private industry set up for that function also? How much more will that "more efficient than the government" service cost those of us who wish to travel?
19
@MB
Please pay attention. The proprivatization zealots in Congre$$ REQUIRE that the USPS pay ahead many years of pension obligations, something not required of any other private company or public agency.
This is not failing to cover costs; it is an arbitrary, onerous artificial cost levied upon the USPS.
80
The problem with privatization of schools is that you don't have "shared experiences" which creates numerous divides - precisely what's wrong with America today. Privatization of schools means whites and blacks going to separate schools, people of the same religions going to different schools, people of the same economic background going to separate schools, and people of same political thought going separate schools. Public schools means shared experiences, exposures to different people and different ideas. And this doesn't even get into - how you have any control over the costs.
290
@JoeG
You hit the nail on the head in your last paragraphs.
Shared experiences ,exposures to different people etc.
That is exactly what DeVos et.al. DO NOT WANT.
When integration of schools started, suddenly private but equal became the motto for the racists.
36
@JoeG All excellent points
10
@JoeG
AND charter schools can and do "counsel" underachievers and discipline problems out, keeping the compliant kids and sending the rest back to public school.
18
Mr. Stephens says: "This is a country that desperately needs to rediscover its center. Republicans abandoned it when they went with Trump, and I fear Democrats might be tempted to do the same by embracing the proposals of people like Ocasio-Cortez."
It's a triumph of the conservative propaganda campaign over the last 4 decades that the marginal tax rate that existed under Reagan can be characterized now as radical. The Republicans managed to move the goal posts and then accuse Democrats of being extremists.
703
@pmbrig
Absolutely right -- our perspective has become so warped by 40 years of right-wing propaganda that proposals that would be "center" and common sense, such as universal health coverage like the entire rest of the civilized world, is demonized as practically Communist pie-in-the-sky thinking.
129
@pmbrig Another thing Reagan did (which was too soon undone by Clinton) was equalize taxes on income from wealth (capital gains) and income from work (wages and salaries). There's no good reason, none, for having tax-advantaged capital gains. But we do have it, and it contributes immensely to income inequality.
12
@Gerald
"(which was too soon undone by Clinton) "
This was really undone by Gingrich as a way of ending the (now) second longest government shutdown. The welfare system was also gutted in that Republican coup.
25
"Is 2019 Over Yet?"
Are you kidding? 2017 and 2018 aren't even over.
127
@mancuroc
Faulkner: “The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.”
Truer now more than ever.
12
@mancuroc
Well said. William Faulkner: “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
46
@mancuroc
November 6, 2016. A date that will live in infamy.
Forever.
18
Mr Stephens:
"But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service"
Really? I've got one, education. Those "private schools" the rich people send there kids to, they're virtually all non-profits. Please name one for profit "university" that's as good as ANY public university in the country. The only decent for profit educational institutions are trade school (truck driving etc.). The rest are terrible and very expensive.
Also, the best hospitals in the country are non-profit.
You think the VA is a disaster, maybe your should go talk to people who actually use it, and compare that to people who deal with private insurance. Are there big problems? yes. That don't mean some private thing will be better.
The private sector does many things better than government ever could, but not everything. The idea that "for profit" is always better, always more efficient, always cheaper, etc. is stupid. If a for profit can get away with providing a worse product that's much cheaper, they'll do it. They're in it to make money. Their incentivized to do just that. I would expect nothing else from them. Why do you? Why do you think there is some great inherent virtue in for profit enterprise, as if they were mystically touched by the goddess of virtue or something.
12
@conesnail
You seem confused. Do you not realize that non-profits are part of the private sector?!?
Mr Stephens comment, which you accurately quoted in your reply was "But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service". You will note that he was making a comparison between "private sector" and "government", NOT a comparison between "for-profit" and "non-profit".
You are correct that there are many well run non-profit institutions, but these still are private sector (NOT government run) institutions, which was Mr. Stephens specific point. Mr Stephens himself made the statement "This is a point I sometimes find myself making to Park Slope progressives who, for ideologically mysterious reasons, somehow wound up sending their kids to private schools like Poly Prep or St. Ann’s instead of their local public schools." The point being that when the issue was one of great personal importance (i.e. their child's education), even these progressives choose successful private sector schools, rather than the government-run failures.
Ironically, your own specific example "the best hospitals in the country are non-profit" (which I assume you now understand are private sector), would seem to confirm that you actually agree with Mr. Stephens that "I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service" !
1
@conesnail -- private industry fails at most of the greatest jobs our society needs, precisely because it exists to maximize profit rather than doing the best job. Think about:
* the military -- you REALLY think a mercenary private military would be better? Really? Go read some history...
* police -- private police forces?
* prisons -- worst abuses you can find
* scientific research -- you think you can privatize it?
The logical conclusion of the privatizers is that government and justice become privatized, everything is for sale to the highest bidder. That does seem to be what the billionaires want, and appear to be well on their way to getting, with Trump.
3
Good collaboration, Gail & Bret, to give us all a break from reality...a reality which is getting more and more depressing each day.
The fear that Trump, a trapped rat, will do anything to save what he perceives as his absolute right to doing whatever he wants to do still looms heavily on his next round of lunacy.
Starting a nuclear war to "rally" all Americans to Trump's side is certainly within the realm of his megalomaniacal personality. Each day that passes brings us closer to this event.
1
I dislike this headline immensely - pandering to the lowest common denominator (45!) is a shame. Keep HOPE alive and let's make 2019 roaringly wonderful - all Trump aside.
Progressives spend their lives dragging conservatives, kicking and screaming, into a better future. That's what progressivism is all about.
No, Bret, your comfort zone of "the center" (you mean center right) is not what the USA desperately needs. The status quo has destroyed equality and the planet. The status quo is done, over.
Bret, to save ourselves and the planet, America desperately needs a permanent progressive future. Turn sharp left and win! AOC's ideas are for me. AOC will help everyone, even conservatives.
4
I am stuck with the view that a Trump defeat in '20 is simply not sufficient. In spite of the chaos that will ensue, the man must be driven from office in disgrace through the impeachment process if, for nothing else, the vindication of our democratic process.
2
Regarding the post office. Weren’t the Republicans going to close a bunch of post offices several years ago? What happened to that great idea? Oh right a bunch of people in rural America, I.e., their base, rose up and said NO. Their post offices were community centers and the place they actually could pick up their mail, get money orders etc. so that idea went away. And if the post office is so terrible why do those for profit companies use it so often? Oh and the mail is still delivered on Saturday-another idea that seems to have died of its own weight
10
The unworkable 70 percent bracket being doscussed worked fine 50 osd years ago.
5
The VA going private is NOT about providing better care. The far right wingers(Koch brothers) hate that it exists because it is socialism and that is a threat and they see big money coming their way. My experience with the VA has been excellent.Yes, truly! I know there must be problems but that has NOT been my experience!
11
At this juncture we are focused way toooo, much on personalities and not enough on issues.
Probably by design, Trump loves this, but he failed to comprehend that over time the average American would see through his pomposity and narcissism.
2019 - The year of busting a blustered ego. DJT will either be indicted or his foot injury will suddenly resurface and he'll be too, infirm to serve. He might just quit.
4
Hey Bret,
Did you not read the column of your fellow NYT columnist, Paul Krugman:
The Economics of Soaking the Rich - Jan. 5, 2019?
Krugman provides detailed information regarding the proposed 70% tax rate on the über-rich. I believe you will find it most enlightening.
5
Every hour is an eternity
in our devastating Trump drama.
You had your conversation,
I am guessing, before the
NATO revelations, the inaugural
spending corruption, the “Manchurian
Presidency” investigation by the FBI.
We need a live feed of your conversation!
As hard as it is, we do have to be careful
in the manner in which we feed the
beast by focusing on issues.
By the end of 2019 time will have caught up with our politics. Won’t be any joking matter either, no more Russians, nor any deranged and deplorable citizenry, just the end of the political theatre we have been subject to for far too long.
1
"That’s bad news for the country, precisely because it sets a precedent future presidents will abuse for their own partisan purposes."
Nah, it's bad news for the country based on it's own lack of merit, not some vaguely boogeyman use by a"future prez'".
"And it will alienate a lot of traditional Republicans, like Senator Marco Rubio, precisely for that reason."
Rubio already warned about some future (D) prez declaring an emergency to deal w/ climate change - as if that's somehow equivalent to Dunning-Kruger Don's made-up border "crisis". Rubio's apparently unaware that rising seas are floating septic tanks in Miami Beach.
"I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation."
How about a list of regulations "intended to… simply impose costs and restrict innovation."?
"But I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government… from delivering mail to running an airline to providing a better quality of education."
Bret apparently lives in a hermetically-sealed mayo jar and never deals w/ Big Air, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Ag, Big Auto, blah and blah. How do (R)s manage to ignore the repeated, blatant examples of incompetence from The Bigs?
BTW, the USPS does a fine job especially considering that they're shackled by absurd (R)-imposed regulations (which, come to think of it, are "intended to… simply impose costs and restrict innovation.").
10
Mr Stephens blithely sidestepped Ms Collins' admonishment to consider Betsy DeVos' massive failure with school privatization - and then he completely ignored her follow-up too. Mr Stephens needs to respond to valid questions - otherwise he is engaged in monologue, not dialogue, and another columnist should be featured in these pieces.
6
Thank you both for kicking one another on a key point: There are crucial services which everyone or almost everyone needs and therefore the marketplace per se will not suffice: education and healthcare. As Gail states - we need government programs and as Brett states - the government is terrible at running industries and is even terrible at most of its oversight duties.
Why? 1) Whenever it's government it's the people's money and therefore everything turns into a policing operation in which the default answer is no. The default answer is no because there are 17 layers of management permission needed and the 17 are divided into factions.
2) Government oversight rules are written by attorneys. This results in systems in which every worker in a regulated industry needs to spend every day operating as if preparing to be deposed. Inefficient and wasteful.
However, when these things go to the private sector, the needy get shafted and the comfortable get comforted. Private schools are not enabling the American dream to the populace.
Let's hope AOC has some ideas to get us through it. We need government programs that are effective and efficient.
Kicking each other over problems we've known since the 1970s won't cut it anymore.
2
Not for profit, community run nursing homes give far better services to nursing home residents that profit driven privately owned corporate facilities. Health care should never be driven by profits!
11
I'm not totally sold on ditching the VA for private medical care on the other hand it does seem to fit into the context of Medicare for all whichI do find appealing. My hang up is related to the fact that right now the insurance companies and hospitals are fleecing everyone and that vets may simply end up being cash cows for them.
8
I am tired of hearing that private companies do a better job with mail than USPS! It is simply not true.
In my business and private life I have found that if you want your mail to reach its destination and intact, you should use USPS. Its employees are much more conscientious.
13
Regarding our requisite rediscovery of America's center? Start by minimizing incentivized rust-belt bents on an anti-urban electorate.
Bret never uses the word "innovation," but now that he has, Republicans need to join BOTH he AND science academicians and realize that cities en masse -- when literally squared by the speed of lit ideas -- can provide ALL the vital energy America needs to survive what's otherwise an ominously unsustainable century coming up.
He is our president and we, united states citizens, should have more respect for our country. He is doing his best and he is doing what he thinks is best for our country. He is human. Nobdy is perfect.
@Ash. Argh. Are you serious? He's doing what's best for him. He's venal and dumb, a deadly combination for our nation.
1
Trump is the most imperfect person to ever occupy the White House. In addition he is vulgar, mean spirited, irrational and ignorant. I cannot think of a single redeeming quality about the man - a total loser as a human being.
1
I suggest you read your fellow columnist and economist Paul Krugman on the 70 percent marginal tax rate for the wealthy. Many economists have concluded that 70 percent to 80 percent is good for the economic health of our country.
11
Bret: "The V.A. system has been a scandal-ridden mess for years, with endless stories about substandard medical and nursing care and scandals over hidden waiting lists."
Sorry, but my husband has gotten good care at the VA in Salt Lake City--it is 90 miles south of us, but he was told they would work out a plan for private care if needed.
My biggest complaint is the VA can't spell and does a terrible job with paperwork, but the staff are kind people--and there is a lot to be said for kindness these days!
AND, when it comes to scandals, I think the private financial sector wins the prize for being "a scandal-ridden mess" that has ruined many a working person's pension and portfolio for retirement, lied, taken away people's homes with fraudulent paperwork….
Where I live, there are the Wells Fargo shenanigans that should have put the CEO and WF fraudsters in jail--but didn't. Plus, the financial sector managed to engineer an economic collapse of the entire economy in 2008. The VA can't hold a candle to that accomplishment.
Sweden puts their criminal bank CEOs in jail, why can't we. Oh I forgot: Sweden is a "socialist" country (actually a "democratic socialist" country), and as the GOP & its big donors proclaim: we don't want any "socialism" in the USA, do we?
AOC is opening up that discussion, as did Bernie. But democratic socialism (as much of Europe and Scandinavia have) is government for the people, and we don't want that do we?
Let's at least explore & talk.
8
Can we acknowledge that veterans oppose privatization of the VA. Maybe we should listen to them rather than to those who would profit from privatization.
21
Wry humor to assuage a broken system.
Dueling for best presentation of a cute line.
Refreshing for me today, thanks!
1
Bret, if you don’t like the USPS, one of the best postal system in the world, you are free to pay 10 times the price of a stamp and use UPS or FedEx for all your mail. Also, please remember that the price of stamps and their budget are set by Congress, not by the USPS leaders.
12
So right! Let’s see the private sector deliver a letter cross country for less than a buck, a lot less. The absurdity of that comment just takes the air out of any other good points he may have.
And while we are at it, a national health care system would include veterans wouldn’t it? Pretty easy fix, and something tells me the private sector would figure a way to adapt and remain profitable.
Or does the right no longer have faith in the US system, the most resilient and dynamic economic model in the history of the world?
Seems more and more of their argument is premised on the belief in the demise of a system that they have been active participants in.
Put on your patriot pants and start every discussion with the reaffirmation that Americans can do anything they want to together, beginning with addressing the flaws in it.
If we can do that, Trump will have been good for the country and we can grant him time off for good behavior, if he behaves.
2
I wish we would stop having these "either-or" arguments when it comes to private vs. public. How about a mix of both? How about more pragmatism rather than ideology when it comes to our economy and services for the people!
The question in every society is what is government for? In democracies it is supposed to be "of, by, and for the people" (the public). What do we have in 2019? "of by, and for the corporations and private business sector."
So right now, the private sector has won, and the public sector is treated as an ugly stepchild--thanks to the GOP although maybe the government shutdown may change that a bit.
In the 1980s when Reagan and the GOP were in their disinformation campaign to defame and demean the government as being "THE problem," I remember hearing an economist say that the private sector did well in providing certain goods and services—as long as there was plenty of healthy, fair competition, and private businesses behaved responsibly and were held accountable.
But some essential services for the people are better done by the public sector. The economist specified education, health care, and infrastructure as essential. I would add retirement to the list.
But the GOP has been on a tear to transfer as much taxpayer money as possible to the private sector. Do we really want private roads and water? Why are Americans paying far more for prescription drugs than people in other countries? Should we turn over Social Security to Wall Street?
8
@PB. Remember when Bush 43 wanted to privatize Social Security? Then 2008 happened.
1
In my experience, over my long lifetime, the USPS is excellent. Fast, cheap, reliable, and comprehensive coverage. I suspect their only weakness is inability to control their rates.
If you don't think so, travel the world and try some others.
17
@James Gaston
The USPS main 'weakness' is that the Republican Party is trying to assassinate it with an unprecedented, unrealistic, and malicious legal requirement to prefund its pension liabilities for the next 75 years, a requirement no other organization in America has.
The Party of Death and Destruction never fails to deliver American hell on earth.
13
"I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation. "
Really, Brett? Do you really think that the reason ANY regulation is enacted is to impose costs and restrict innovation?
14
You're right, private services are better and more efficient - for people who can pay a premium.
List of people in America who can't always afford to pay a premium:
99% of them.
8
Recent history? Jeez, Brett, under that socialist Dwight Eisenhower top marginal rates were in the 90's, apparently with his blessing.
I expect AOC to learn quickly and have a long and successful political career. Case in point: she did vote for Pelosi for speaker But hopefully she never loses her idealism.
21
Three years ago I started to lose vision in my left eye. An MRI discovered a very large pituitary tumor that was compressing the optic nerve. This was conveyed to me by my ophthalmologist on Wednesday morning. By noon that day I was seeing a neuro-surgeon. At 2PM I saw an endocrinologist, who ordered blood tests.
By 10AM Thursday morning the endocrinologist called me at home to tell that the tumor could be treated by drugs and that she had already called in the prescription. Sunday morning the surgeon called to ask how I was doing.
As I am Canadian all this was without cost to me, and without paperwork. Everyone in Canada receives this level of care regardless of income. And our health care spending is 60% per capita of the cost in the US.
Instead of comparing a universal health care system to your VA system, have a look at how we do it.
62
I think Bret overestimates the extent to which Trump can alienate so called "traditional" (i.e. right wing conservative) Republicans. All McConnell has to do is threaten Trump with going along with Democrats in demanding investigations into Trump's business dealings, or ties to Russia...
McConnell is crucial to helping Trump perpetuate his lies.
McConnell doesn't need to oppose the wall - why should he, when the Democrats are doing it for him? He's letting them do the dirty work, and get the blame, much as Republicans somehow let Democrats shoulder the blame Nafta, supporting the Iraq war, and bailing out the banks in the wake of the financial crisis (even the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act is somehow attributed to Clinton, and not the three Republicans who wrote it).
McConnell is a shrewd politician, and probably the most powerful Republican in America. Trump is his useful idiot, who has managed to sell the idea that shirking taxes and decimating gov't are all good things, in a way that no other Republican was able to. Not despite the fact that he was an amoral ignoramus who was unconcerned with policy details, and willing to make absurd promises to working class Americans - but precisely because of those qualities.
14
Brett, You can mail a letter anywhere in the U. S. for 50 cents. I can’t imagine anytime ever when private companies could or would match that.
15
@Dale
I sold a boatload of stuff cleaning house last year and shipped ALL of it, dozens and dozens of packages, through the USPS, either by Media Mail (for books) or Priority Mail (for everything else). Occasionally I'd do a very heavy package at a lower basic rate. But invariably, the rates were great, nothing was ever lost, the tracking was decent on everything, only when I shipped very large boxes did I have to do any calculating over size...it could not have been easier. Stephens complaining over the USPS sounds about the same as people who ignorantly claim that no one uses public libraries anymore!
12
If Pelosi and Schumer were running a clown college I'd say they were good at their jobs. They still carry on the tired baloney that H. Clinton inflicted on the country. Now she's taking a victory lap over the totally wrong story of Trump being a Russian agent. Her anti Russia hysteria allies in the FBI who have been sacked and discredited have been resurrected to sell more news papers to the never Trump crowd. But there's always Trump to rise to occupation with stupid bombast and vindictive policies. At the end of the day Mitch McConnell is the goat in all this as hides out doing nothing to end this gov't shut down idiocy. What the Senate Majority Leader show statesmanship and work for good gov't? Never happen.
2
Here’s an interesting story to go along with the medical care discussion.
My son owns a gun shop in NEPA. He was telling me a bout a customer who comes in. She is a black, female, surgeon who loves guns. I know. She was head hunted from another hospital to improve things at a well known major hospital, once known for keeping costs down.
She told my son they are about 15 years behind the times. She said they were keeping patients comfortable with a certain type of cancer she had been cuing for years. She told them things had to change, new doctors brought in, or she was leaving. They finally agreed. The reason she gave for this backwardness? It’s a for profit hospital.
I am also against Bret’s claim about the post office. Privatization simply means a multimillionaire CEO, not better service. He forgot to mention that in very rural areas major shippers ship to the post office and the post office delivers because they are mandated to. What will happen when a private shipper doesn’t want to do that? And those major shippers are very hard on their employees. Bad backs and knees are the norm for those guys.
69
There is an upside to Trump declaring a national emergency in order to build his fantasy wall. The precedent will enable the Democratic President in 2021 to ignore a GOP Senate filibuster when s/he takes major steps to curb climate change.
Not only is climate change an actual national emergency, but the right wing, having caved to Pinocchio and allowed him to usurp their authority, will be powerless to prevent the next president from exercising real leadership.
30
The now legendary AOC is simply a new toy for partisans to fight over. Eventually, they'll exhaust themselves as she becomes more savvy to politics as practiced in DC which is a world to itself that no longer has much to do with anything that the American people want. At least she knows how to ruffle feathers in the chicken coup.
19
School choice and privatization of almost everything represent best choices among bad ones. Human beings left to their own devices with no rules and regs, and their intelligent enforcement, usually run amuck. I believe the question becomes: How best can the agreed upon rules be enforced for the good of all citizens? A factor that tips it for me is the profit motive and the strong opposition by the profiteers to any kind of supervision. Imperfect government supervision or profit motivated private sector supervision - take your pick. Pick the former and elect to enact agencies and people like Elizabeth Warren to head them up who will do the supervision. Imperfect? Yes. Better option? Yes. I will vote against privatization as a general rule unless it can be demonstrated that rules will be followed as a direct result of dedicated supervision.
10
Like most Republicans, Mr. Stephens is looking to privatize everything. To me, that means that somebody is looking to make a profit even on the backs of the halt and lame. I have been covered by the government program of Medicare for a long time and find it to be an excellent program. George Bush wanted to privatize Social Security. That would have allowed the big banks to unnecessarily take a large cut off the top of a huge pool of money. Privatized Medicare would be a similar boondoggle.
46
The USPS charges less for postage than any mail service elsewhere. And still delivers on Saturdays. It’s underfunded and should raise the cost of a stamp.
61
@John Brews ..✅✅I was a letter carrier in the 1970s. Today the entire paradigm of the USPS has shifted. Who writes letters anymore? Who is foolish enough to pay bills by check and send them through the mail? How many people subscribe to postally delivered magazines? Conservatively speaking, 90% of the mail that gets delivered to our household goes straight into the recycling bin.
1
A few basic facts. There is no state in America where the Private School system is better by any measure outside of cooked stats like grad rates, then their public counterparts. For every Poly Prep or St. Ann's there are 200 terrible charter/private schools that provide their students with little more than babysitting. Stephens, as usual, is wrong because he refuses to believe anecdotal evidence is not actually evidence.
37
@Robert - A substantial %age of charter schools are x'tian run, yet publicly-funded, madrassas. So much for the 1st amendment.
22
@Miss Anne Thrope
It's upsetting how accurate this is.
3
"we run the risk of becoming his accomplices in amplifying his voice" - Bruni's column was on target though the national media, in all its iterations, does not run the risk of becoming an accomplice, it already is and has been for years.
So, I encourage Gail, Bret and all other viable reporters to lessen their obsession with the WH occupant and report only on the issues while ignoring the mindless tweets, character assassinations and so forth.
13
@Southern New Mexico
So true. I sent an asbestos email to the Times grandees about the typically anonymously sourced article on the digital front page mooting Trump declaring a national emergency to build his vanity wall. It was entirely speculative, and proven false within 24 hours.
This is why political coverage is the thing that the Times does worst, and considering what passes for pop culture coverage, that is an astonishingly poor accomplishment.
The Times needs to cover what *actually happens,* instead of speculating what might happen with a president equipped with an attention span measurable in nanoseconds.
And stop covering tweets, until there is some official acknowledgement that they represent a channel representing official government policy. The Times, and other media outlets, are too easily distracted by shiny objects and nearby squirrels.
1
Did not appreciate Stephens diss of our postal system. It goes everywhere and I mean everywhere for a fair price and in a speedy manner. Compared to other carriers, USPS outdoes them all in my experience.
The big question on how to make them more solvent? Easy, let USPS add simple banking to their other services of passports and money orders. The infrastructure is already there as is personnel.
36
Do in the VA, take that funding and put it in to Medicare and cover Veterans under traditional Medicare. Sell the existing VA hospitals and clinics to existing healthcare providers.
Vets get better care and the VA as a political football goes by the wayside.
7
AOC is far left and it is refreshing to see youthful enthusiasm and courage but she does need both a little perspective, kindness and patience. And that since of history you mentioned. She is young and doesn't even know what she doesn't know yet. If she bullies, as you say she will lose everything her freshman year first and last as a representative. I am so happy to hear you are consciously considering how to reduce T's voice. That is a great 2019 resolution. I do hope we can see T defeated overwhelmingly by the voters in 2020 and leave this nightmare behind us with a list of lessons learned and a dark period in history to reflect on for generations to come as our internal cold war period.
7
I will never understand why proposing investing in the health and education of our citizens-as every other first world nation has done for decades—is considered “far left. “
8
Hollande, really? The first person here to highly tax the rich was EISENHOWER, and it was an economic success!
66
Perhaps Seamus the Romney dog should primary President Trump. He, too, would "be 10 times better a president" than the current White House squatter. Lucky Seamus; he now frolics happily in that great hambone yard in the sky.
As for health care, Brett, Medicare has worked amazingly well over many decades, far better then any of the computing options from the private sector.
Moreover, the VA is not irredeemably bad, according to the several veterans among my friends who depend upon it. For their sake, I dread the prospect of privatizing it. So do they.
35
@John lebaron
Whatever. It seems to me that "privatizing VA" really means just covering veterans under medicare for free, while eliminating the VA hospitals and bureaucracy.
@Willy E
And paying more to those private hospitals from the pockets of taxpayers. And Medicare is not free, as we have all been paying into the system throughout our working years and still pay something (or even a lot) deducted from our Social Security now that we are older.
4
@John lebaron
Seamus, is more intelligent than the current 1600 resident, even in his current state of canem mortuum.
1
Republicans abandoned the center? They were already speeding to the right well before Trump.
19
"It’s one of the reasons Americans should be wary of ever embracing government-run health care as the norm."....There is a huge difference between a system like the VA where the government owns and manages the hospitals and hires the doctors and personnel; and a system like Medicare where the
healthcare delivery system is private and the government is the insurance provider. Conflating the two as an argument against medicare for all is dishonest.
55
@W.A. Spitzer
Yes, but non-profit medical care will always be better than for profit where they cut corners to make sure they can py their CEOs millions per year. When we lived in Hilton Head it was horrifying to have to go to the Humana emergency room where the gurneys were dusty and often still bloody on their bases, the walls of the rooms had holes and peeling paint and the temperatures were kept extra low to inhibit the growth of gems. When the caregivers have to wear heavy sweaters or jackets and the patients are lying there shivering, the temperature is definitely too low. If they ever cleaned the spaces it wouldn't be necessary to treat patients in a refrigerator! Our local hospital here in Concord, NH is a non-profit and definitely cleaner.
4
When I hear a single Republican official remind Mr. Trump that his promised wall was going to be given to us by our neighbors to the South, I will agree that "Republican centrists" is not an oxymoronic phrase. I'm all for folks like Stephens here, and Jennifer Rubin and Max Boot at WaPo, criticizing Trump from the right. But these writers are toothless, having no more actual influence than you or I have. Republican centrists have not existed in Washington for more than a generation.
11
Gail, you reminded readers dozens of times about Romney's treatment of his dog. Your statement today that "... while it’s true I once made fun of Romney’s dog …" cannot possibly be true. Didn't Seamus suffer enough on that car roof?
3
Bret Stephens got on my nerves with this column - from dissing public schools (I think we all know plenty of dumb people who went to private school) to dismissing AOC's 70% tax bracket on income over $10 million as "unworkable" - as though the Republican tax cut or this Trump shutdown over the wall are good economic ideas
79
@VJO
Bret Stephens gets on my nerves most of the time, but to be fair, being skeptical of the 70% tax bracket does not necessarily imply support for Trump's tax cut or his shutdown. There is a world of possibility in between those two extremes.
3
@jim
Her tax proposal is not 70% of 10 million dollars, but rather 70% of the amount exceeding 10 million dollars.
24
@allen roberts
That's kinda besides the point isn't it. I wasn't commenting on the details of her proposal. Just that not being in favor of it doesn't necessarily imply support for the tax cuts or shutdown.
Sounds like Gail has been studying the development of charter schools in MI and Betsy DeVos's role in that. Gail's statement was right on. Bravo!
37
HEY, you guys, DJT is my main source of entertainment. I look forward to learning what outrageous thing THE FOOL has done or said today. But seriously, I am very troubled and worried about losing our DEMOCRACY, our right to free speech, our free press, our open doors, our integrity as a nation, our trust in our form of government and the men and women who run it. As a still-living product of THE GREAT DEPRESSION and THE SECOND WORLD WAR, I know how fragile a society can be. Our vote is our insurance, even though it failed us in 2016!!!
29
Perhaps Romney could strap Trump onto the top of his car and drive him to Canada or Mexico. But actually Shamus, Romney's long gone pet, would have made a better president.
Bret Stephens and the rest of the complaining conservatives would do us all a better service if they pressured McConnell to stop stone walling Democratic proposas to open the government.
42
The entire VA system has been very deliberately starved of funding, which exacerbates ANY problem on a exponential scale. When an entire political Party operates on the mantra of
“ less government “, what they really mean is less MONEY, for the non Rich and for many programs, deemed “ welfare “. Or anything that could possibly benefit “ those people “. For a Party that pretends to worship the Military, the GOP is very quick to abuse and discard Veterans. And not serve in the Armed Forces, OR have Children that serve. Disgusting hypocrites.
2020.
91
Thank you, Gail and Bret. Love the back-and-forth with you folks. It's like a verbal tennis match but the great thing is you seem to like and respect each other. And you're providing a good lesson for all of us for this year and beyond. Liberals, go find a conservative friend and have a reasonable conversation. And conservatives, do the same. Some of the rules for the conversation, IMHO, would include: 1) not using the standard and tired talking points that are used by msnbc liberals and fox conservatives alike (2) not using inflammatory words/phrases that doom a conversation and almost guarantee instant shut-down of idea sharing. (3) using humor but not like a blunt weapon.
7
Ideologues can’t let go of anything- businessmen want to get into human services/education/aging because of the assurance of government dollars and therefore profits. At least Gail admits she ridiculed Romney’s dog-in-a-crate, Stephens can’t examine these old mantras despite lack of evidence. No private business was ever corrupt, was it?
7
Okay, I admit we should not focus so much attention and use up too much ink on Mr. Trump. Like a spoiled child, he thrives on any way he can shine that proverbial spot light upon himself. But here’s the deal. This man is so, so, so awful and angst-producing that like my morning coffee, I need the “fix” of venting and having my own daily tantrum re all things Trump. The steam from my built in pressure cooker has to have its openings before I implode.
And yes, we are, what, barely three weeks into 2019, and even our teenagers are turning gray. The shut down is a disgraceful display from a president who has lost all sense of reasoning and heart, not that he ever had one. Putin and Russia and interpreter notes, oh my... And those flying monkeys, Mitch et al, continue to protect their leader who flies on his own luxury broomstick paid in part by those very folks who are now wondering how they can put gas in their own cars.
Finally, let’s go easy on AOC. Our country needs the passion and idealism and, God knows, moral compasses of this generation. Remember that America belongs to them. We Boomers must support and embrace them.
11
I predict Marco Rubio will fold, as will all of the #PLIC's supporters who will rationalize any twist and turn he takes. I am sure that they now don't believe that he said he would own the shutdown, since he as said he did not say it (unless in the last five minutes he has again said he did).
5
The difference in our military weaponry to be so accurate and so deadly and so abundant and so for sale......versus....our VA system to be so below average....is pretty simple isn't it?
Allocation of funds.
It's not a riddle how we do one thing do well, and another so poorly. Flip the allocation and see what happens.
12
Hey Brett - time to come home. Those Park Slope parents are now eager to send their kids to the public schools - try finding an apartment or house in the neighborhood. I've had families of five try to convince me to rent them my one bedroom apartment so that they could enroll their kids in the public school across the street. The public sector is a lot more popular than you like to admit.
And didn't you study history -- 70% was the tax rate in the 1960s and it is in the range of percentages that many economists agree should currently be the top rate. AOC is just reading the work of top economists. Don't fault her for doing her homework.
But gee Gail -- you know all this, why not fact check your partner?
22
Your clever relief from the painful reality of “Trump-dumb” does diminish the threat he is. With Purdue Pharma’s long term lawyer representing Trump and opioid the leading cause of preventable deaths, that relationship has been ignored.
With recreational drugs available to federal prisoners inside “big beautiful walls” closely watched by armed guards, people can appreciate how permeable border walls are.
The arrival of gunpowder in Europe made castles and walls obsolete.
Just like with the women he sexually assaulted, Trump doesn’t understand when Pelosi told him NO on his compulsive need for a wall. For a guy who doesn’t respect boundaries, he sure is fixated.
8
Well, a worthwhile discussion of opposites in the political scale, but with the wise proviso of honesty, and the rare addition of 'trust' in each other, essential to come to reasonable conclusions based on facts, on reality, and where the truth remains incontrovertible. All this is anathema to a dedicated liar and demagogue named Donald J. Trump, intent in destroying our trust in democratic institutions (which he converted into a pluto-kleptocracy anyway). And speaking of the devil, not being a bacteria, he is not infecting the environment (and poisoning our social well-being), he is 'infesting' it, as all parasites are prone to, with dire consequences. Trump's manufacturing a crisis (invading hordes) by insulting desperate folks escaping violence at home, and wanting to find asylum in this country (and the U.S., contrary to republican spite, depends on immigration more than ever), is a disgrace. Some may argue that, as long as Trump's abuse of power allows the shutdown to continue, the less harm can he inflict on us...if it weren't obvious the suffering being caused on so many already. A solution, radical to some but close to heaven, might be the firing of the binomium Trump-Pence, and allow Pelosi the presidency... righting a capsized boat and lead it to a safe port, and a sense of noble purpose. Oh well, dreaming is cheap, I guess, especially if we, the people, lack the will to stop this institutionalized mafia in government. And this includes a complicit G.O.P.
7
It's irrefutable today, Gail and Bret, that Donald Trump won't be running in 2020. He has infected our entire country with his chaotic demands by rant and Tweet (and even our global friends are sick). America's enemies are the ones dancing in the streets of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Republicans abandoned American democracy when they embraced Donald Trump two years ago. They're still doing the totentanz with our 45th president today. Lord spare us two more ruinous and catastrophic years in Trumpian time.
3
@Nan Socolow
He will run again, and he will win again.
He won because of the public's disgust with our elites' embrace of illegal immigration.
The Democrats' foolish and baffling opposition to finishing the wall - a project they once supported but now oppose, for reasons of cynical political opportunism - will ensure that this issue is front and center in 2020.
And illegal immigration will ensure a second term for Trump.
Ouch. That headline. This weekend NPR was rebroadcasting material from 2018. At one point someone said, to paraphrase, "2017 is finally over! and 2018 will be so much better!". Heartbreaking. It reminded me of the experience of watching a movie that opened with a title slide "Warsaw, 1939".
3
I love your "point-counterpoint" columns! One thing, Bret: near the end you misrepresent the 70 percent tax concept, and then call it unworkable. It would be unworkable...if it were a 70 percent tax bracket. But it is not. Those making more than $10 million/year would have their first $10 million taxed at the current rate (which thanks to the GOP tax cut for the rich ain't bad at all), then any amount over $10 million would be taxed at 70 percent. What can I say, I like being a lone voice in the wilderness, like when I tried to tell people on 1/1/2000 that it wasn't a new millennium yet.
That said, I agree that "AOC" is being given far more attention and press than she deserves or is good for her, and certainly is good for Democratic Party. I expect that will cool down, though.
5
Wow, we were doing so well there until Bret started in on AOC. Bret, you're flat out wrong. A few factual errors, quickly corrected, are no comparison to a head of state who lies intentionally and constantly, and frequently contradicts himself - sometimes within minutes - and lies about that as well.
And what's wrong with big ideas? We once had a tax rate higher than what she's proposed. Those taxes could fund much needed work and programs. Democrats have been dragged toward the center since the Reagan years. AOC, and Bernie of course, are just suggesting that we get back to having a government that works for all and provides solid infrastructure, good schools and healthcare. I'm in.
22
You are right to agree with Frank Bruni that the media is at fault. Tweets should not be published. If Trump wants to get information or opinion out to people he can issue a press release, hold a press conference, or give a speech. It will be good to get back to having a normal person as president in a few years time.
6
Trump reflects the mindset (using the term loosely) of those who granted him the majority of electoral votes. That is the really sad part!
11
AOC needs to be granted a learning curve, and I agree with Gail, she bristled at being called out by the fact checkers then agreed they were right. Mea culpa happened which shows she is intrinsically honest so far. Personally, I like her and what she stands for.
Good article.
18
Bret: I am a Vet and I get my health care from the VA. It's the best health care I've ever had in my 72 years.
Privatizing VA health care would, in my view, be a disaster. Prices would skyrocket. Private equals "for profit" and all the opportunists would jump on board and sink the ship!
What the VA health care system needs is more and updated facilities and better funding.
53
@Geo. McHugh I, another old vet, couldn’t agree more. I have received excellent care at the San Francisco VA hospital for years. These would-be privateers are eager to ruin a system that from my perspective is working quite well. Fix the broken parts. Don’t be jeopardizing my health and well being.
21
I love how the right takes every proposal, or wish, that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez states as something that will de facto happen just by her stating it. A marginal 70 percent tax rate would only happen after legislation proposing it passes both the House and Senate and signed by a president. Should that happen, I'm willing to bet a majority of the country would have been supportive of it. That's kind of how the process works. As Gail said, nothing wrong with suggesting and debating ideas.
52
@Bob
I mean, it would be kinda fun for a while if every proposal and wish from AOC came true. Like that episode of the Twilight Zone with the little boy who could wish anything into existence.
At this point, I think the best end to the govt shutdown would be for Congress to get a collective spine and pass a veto-proof compromise spending bill, even allowing for some (but definitely not $5B) wall/fencing/whatever funding, maybe just to reinforce what's already there. But, PLEASE, use Congressional power and take it out of Trump's hands already. It might even begin restore some people's faith in Congress itself.
37
@Andy -- Largely agreed, but you need to understand that for Republicans, Mitch McConnell particularly, this may be political suicide in 2020.
He's already announced he's running again, he's not all that popular in his home state, and it is very Trumpy. Trumpers will consider Republicans who do this "traitors" to Trumpismo, and it would surely trigger a primary opponent who might win.
On the other hand this shutdown may cause Republicans in swing states to lose, may give up control of the Senate. The longer it goes on the more likely this gets.
Trump was goaded into pulling the pin on a hand grenade and throwing into the Republican party. It is his dumbest Wile E. Coyote move; he thought he was throwing it at the Democrats, but he missed bigly ... Chuck and Nancy and all the rest went "Beep Beep" and are laughing off into the distance.
Now the Republicans are arguing over who throws themself on that grenade. The truth of it is that all the Republicans want Trump to be the one; he deserves it, they never wanted his wall anyway. You can't fix stupid: Trump bragged about it being his shutdown! But time is passing and if nobody does ... it gets them all.
Democrats are buying more popcorn and watching Trump and the Republicans frag each other.
Trump could not have done anything more likely to destroy Republican chances for the Presidency and the Senate in 2020. If the Democrats win it all then, this idiot shutdown will loom large in history.
3
@Lee Harrison The Republican party is already starting to do damage control. They have stripped Steve King of his committee chairmanships in an effort to cover-up their racism well ahead of 2020. In addition, on 1/21/2019, Trump will have served 2 years. If they ditch him then Pence can run twice. Long shot? No they're just playing the long game. After all, the voter supression and gerrymandering they've been doing just might be enough.
1
It is not possible for private hospitals to do worse for our veterans than VA hospitals, especially if there is oversight. Also, veterans and their families will be able to get better hospital services much closer to home.
2
How about we fund VA rather than continue to impose cuts.
1
I can provide only anecdotal evidence. At our Senior Center, we have vets from WW2 on who use the VA facility in Coatesville PA. I've heard only good comments about the quality and availability of the care they get there. The only complaint is that VA charges too much for prescriptions, sometimes considerably more than nearby places like Walmart, CVS, and Wegman's.
16
Bret Stephens points to France as an example of the possible downside of 70% tax on top incomes. But when the conversation turns to healthcare, Mr. Stephens ignores France and its excellent, well-regulated health system.
Bret Stephens also becomes geographically blinkered when he ignores, for example, Israel's excellent, government-run, well regulated, cost-effective, single-payer healthcare system, and Israel's innovations in medical R&D, while saying of U.S. healthcare: "I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation."
The citizens of Israel and France have longer life expectancies and better medical outcomes than the citizens of the Unites States of America -- while spending considerably less, both individually and as a percentage of their national economies.
Cherrypicking does not serve Mr. Stephen's arguments well.
60
@justamoment
I constantly read comments such as this in the Times, but what is never stated is the fact that doctors and other medical personnel are paid around thirty percent less in France than here. Is it any wonder that doctors
here are not leaping at the chance to be employed in such a system?
How do you propose to reduce costs such that medical care here is in line with medical care elsewhere? If you simply mandate lower medical fees for doctors, nurses and lab technicians, aren't you in danger of driving the best members of their professions elsewhere?
Mind you, I am not mocking your comment. I genuinely wish to know how this is to be done. My experience has been that mandated lower prices result in reduced availability of goods and services.
Medicare, and more particularly, Medicaid, do not pay the full cost of their care now. The losses are made up through higher fees paid for private care patients. What happens when this private care subsidy is no longer available in a single payer system?
I am sure this can all be figured out, but no one ever seems to address these issues when proclaiming the superiority of other nation's healthcare systems.
4
@justamoment Well, right. And let’s keep in mind that 70%tax on the richest of the rich is STILL less than during Eisenhower. It’s NOT 70% on EVERYBODY!!! Stop being confusing. And keep in mind that the fabulous Mayo Clinic is a prime example of socialized medicine. Which makes it all the more scandalous that Rand Paul goes to Canada for hernia surgery than to our own fine example of socialized medicine.
10
@Thomas A. Hall There are at least two cost issues that make single payer health systems work better than ours. One, medical education in Europe does not cost anywhere near what it does in the U.S. so doctors there do not hold years of debt requiring them to earn huge amounts of money. Two, the cost of drugs and medical equipment is regulated, some drugs which are prescription only in the U.S. can even be bought OTC in Europe, making those costs significantly lower than they are here. I am sure there are other factors that enable these systems to work. There is no dearth of medical professionals in Europe who want to live and work there.
15
Looking to the private sector is always and forever going to have to do business with the fact that, in the end, the purpose of a private-sector business is to make money.
There are some places where making money MUST NOT be the central objective; education, health care, military, and policing/prisons are the obvious ones to my eye. Why? Because the consequences of short-sighted greed in those areas have such calamitous potential-- especially if that greed and its methods become widespread in the culture.
I've worked in a for-profit school an academy in Korea, teaching children English. It was an education, at least for me: the customers were not the kids, but their parents. The parents wanted their children to be successful, so the school would never set any child back, even if the child, placed too far forward, struggled daily, lacking the skills to keep up. And when grading time came, we were directly ordered to inflate the grades so that parents would be pleased with their children's progress.
The students were poorly served. The teachers were miserable, which didn't make our teaching any better. The parents were happy enough, I guess: catered to at every turn.
Probably some of the kids benefited from our work. Maybe even most of them. But I'm under no illusions they couldn't have done better elsewhere-- like, maybe, a place where the student, not the parent's pocket book, was the focus.
I'll never work for such a place again.
38
I agree that governments world-wide have done a lousy job of running airlines, but then quite a few private companies have also done a lousy job of running airlines (anybody remember PanAm or TWA?).
However schools and hospitals are a different matter. There are many examples of excellent public schools systems and public health systems to be found around the world.
Maybe Americans are just not able to do these things, but I doubt it. All it requires is good government and the political will.
25
Privatization will mean that the provision of governmental services will be driven by profit motive and run by profiteers. And that means public services with smaller margins—like being certain that all children, regardless how otherwise disadvantaged, get a good education or being certain that mail is delivered to all Americans, regardless how remote their location—will be given the shortest of short shrifts, assuming they get any shrift at all.
The money motive necessarily converts the goal of providing governmental services to one of private profit rather than public good and can only exacerbate America’s growing economic inequality. Only a party that thinks public elections and public health are aided by private profit goals would think privatization is a good idea.
22
Sorry, Bret. While some VA installations have problems, ask any vet about the caring attention they get at a VA facility. VA hospitals have professionals who have long experience at dealing with the specific health concerns of vets. How would it serve the veterans to be seen by doctors and therapists who are not specialist? How would privatizing Walter Reed benefit anyone but the rich corporation who would siphon off the profits?
35
Too bad that Gail let Bret trot out the right-wing "the VA provides substandard healthcare" myth unchallenged. Study after study has found that the quality of care delivered by the VA is generally equal to or better than care delivered by the private sector. I'm sure Bret can find anecdotes here and there that suggest otherwise. But as we've learned from Trump's sales pitch on the border wall -- it's high time we stop governing by inflammatory anecdote and start governing by fact.
77
@Tomboth my father and brother used the VA hospitals late in their lives and were absolutely impressed. They are geared to help their particular concerns and do an excellent job.
32
What AOC is doing is shifting the Overton window to the left on some issues. (The window has skewed quite far to the right in recent years: Nazism used to be anathema in this country but now it's merely an extreme position!)
I doubt that anyone, including AOC, actually thinks that a 70% top marginal tax rate will come to fruition. But, because of her advocacy on this issue (amplified by the insane amount of press she's gotten) we are talking about it. Maybe a 50% top marginal rate doesn't seem that wild anymore. While the content and intent is totally different, it's basically the same tactic used by Trump and his ilk: It's unrealistic to actually expect a complete shutdown of Muslim travel to the U.S., but once that's seriously in the conversation the kinds of hardline and hard-hearted immigration moves we've seen seem tame by comparison.
21
@Nick
That proposal of a 70% marginal tax rate is only for income ABOVE $10 million/year. That seems fair to me.
6
@Paul
Whether it seems fair to you has no bearing on whether it will ever seriously happen. It's a rhetorical proposition.
@Nick -- agreed.
I am largely willing to give her awhile to learn her trade and grow up a bit -- 29 is young, truthfully I wasn't fully grown at that age. (There's a reason the constitution sets 35 as a minimum to be President, more valid today than then.)
I am worried though about the substitution of slogans that have no actual thought or reality for real policy; left-wing equivalents of "MAGA" or Trump's wall the Mexicans were going to pay for.
I'm a "climate scientist" near retirement and AOC's "green new deal" sure sounds like empty sloganeering so far. It seems to be nothing beyond the inchoate idea that there will be a lot of jobs putting solar panels on people's roofs; that's about a 5th-grader's essay-level comprehension of realities on both the "green" and "new deal" issues.
"Abolish ICE" is another one, ditto coy refusal to stand up and spell out what policies are actually being advocated. I don't know whether AOC really is for "open borders" -- I kinda doubt it because it's preposterous: no nation can allow that in the modern world. She's been playing this like the Mexicans paying for the wall -- hot idiot-bait slogan.
'ICE" is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She needs to spell out what Immigration, Customs and Enforcement policies she actually advocates.
Trump has lashed the Constitution to the top of his golf cart and is barreling down a black hole. Shamus survived, will we?
17
I agree with Mr. Stephens that we need politicians that are willing to be in the center, but that does not mean that they start in the center. What they need to do is have a position then compromise. The idea of compromise is what has been lost on many politicians, but they are the politicians of the right. Mitch McConnell is the worst example. He is a man who never bends on any of his ideas to destroy the middle class and poor in this country, then he blames Democrats for being partisan. AOC's ideas would help people and I guarantee she would compromise a little, unlike McConnell.
12
A.O.C. is a model of accuracy and legitimacy compared to the the Trump acolytes and spinners who feed Fox News poison literally on demand. Republicans have reason to fear her. Character assassination, unfunny jokes, even lies won't work to silence her or turn her into a political pariah. After all, she was elected by popular vote and unseated a dinosaur.
The new constituency is forming with every insane tweet from the White House asylum. It is unafraid and ready to take on the bullies and the traitors.
31
The VA situation reminds that we are trying to cut a clean path between two dismal options. The first is poorly run government facilities in which bureaucracy runs rampant and stifles service; and the privatized sector which is vastly different from the private sector.
The private sector owns and operates independent businesses which have the goal of making money by serving customers with something people need. They can be useful or exploitative, providing utility or gouging for necessities. The **privatized** sector takes public services and cashes in on public money to run them as poorly or as well as they feel like, while making a profit from taxpayer money.
Prisons, charter schools, services which collect fines, military contractors, companies which install cameras and share in speeding revenue are examples of privatized industries. As are - especially in other nations - dams, water companies, electric companies. Just ask Ecuador how they are paying for their Chinese hydro-electric dam.
No, I don't support moving the VA functions out unless they are carefully supervised so that we can be sure that the private sector addresses them and not the privatized.
2
“This is a country that desperately needs to rediscover its center. Republicans abandoned it when they went with Trump”
Bret, the GOP abandoned its center long before Trump descended the golden escalator in 2015 to announce his run for president.
Republicans teed up Trumpism all by themselves as racism predominated that party’s response to the election of President Obama.
24
"... we run the risk of becoming his accomplices in amplifying his voice when we should be trying to diminish it."
I'll make a bet with you, Bret. I think the NYT is all talk and no action on this point. How about a column statistically analyzing what happens with this Trump talk at the end of the year? Because I would wager that there will be more talk about Trump, not less. Trump is the opiate of the media, and there's no methadone clinic in sight.
5
Stephens thinks the private sector does everything better. Trump is a businessman with no history of public service or government experience. How’s that working out, Brett?
34
The goal of privatization is profit. Haven't the veterans given enough to the MIC? For republicans like Mr. Stephens it is always about the money. Make money selling bombs, make money taping the wounded back together. Any hope we can privatize the burial services for the KIAs?
8
Brett:
1. Sen Rand Paul needs hernia surgery on account of the altercation with his neighbour. He is coming to Canada for his surgery!
2. If during all those meetings in the Bush White House any of those yahoos had given any thought to the reality that starting two wars would lead to a staggering number of veterans and had given the necessary funds to the VA to prepare for what was inevitable I dare say few would now be complaining...excepting, of course, the private sector that is giddy thinking of the tax payer funded profits they are lobbying to get their hands on.
25
@Rw I had hernia surgery a few years back and can recommend a doc in Washington state...I only waited a week after the initial appointment and my insurance covered it all. I’m sure mr Paul could get in to see her as well but since she was an African American he might still decide to go to Canada
2
Bret, wake me up when fedex delivers mail to every address for $.55.
87
@Djt
$0.50
The animal that most resembles Donald Trump is in the Mephitidae family. The common skunk. They are both polygynous, have distinctive coiffuers, and spray sulfurous substances when threatened.While the skunk sprays noxious liquid, Trump dispenses equally odious distortion and fasehood. Trump's Republican enablers been have been contaminated by his "spray" and will pay a heavy price in 2020.
18
2019 is far from over and the government shutdown is just a prelude of things to come.
What's ahead in 2019?
Trump will become increasingly erratic, idiotic, but ultimately irrelevant. As Roger Cohen recently wrote, "Like the dog that returns to its vomit", Trump cannot help himself. He needs attention the way humans need air and therefore Trump will out of necessity find new ways to feed his dumpster fire.
Whatever he does will be as, or more, idiotic than his 2nd Century wall to address 21st Century threats. But he and his idiocy will soon become irrelevant because...
The Senate Majority "Leader" will be forced to show up for work and take full responsibility for the government shutdown. It is already on his shoulders...he just doesn't know it yet.
Chuck and Nancy are ringing McConnell's bell (look at recent pictures of him...his vacant eyes tell us there is a loud ringing in his head). Soon someone (Democrats, fellow Republicans, media, the public) will explain to him that the ringing in his head means the shutdown is on him.
When McConnell gets the message he will be forced to ask Senate Republicans if they want to stay the Senate or join Trump in his dumpster fire.
Once McConnell reports for work it will not end with ending the shutdown. He will become persona non grata and the latest target of Trump's toddler tantrums. From that point on McConnell will be de facto head of the Republican Party...and Trump will be an irrelevant dumpster fire: seen but not heard.
7
I'm not sure whether I dislike Stephens more when he's trying to be funny with Gail versus when he writes on his own. Either way, he's still annoying (and wrong about a lot of things).
"That’s bad news for the country, precisely because it sets a precedent future presidents will abuse for their own partisan purposes. And it will alienate a lot of traditional Republicans."
- Um, yeah, just like Republicans got upset when McConnell broke precedent and stole a seat on the Supreme Court.
"He understands that if he folds on wall funding, his presidency is effectively over."
- Nah. If he gets to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court and install lots of other radical judges, the Republicans won't care about doing anything else (like perhaps reopening the govt) during the rest of his term.
"I’m not against regulation, so long as it’s intended to prevent abuses rather than simply impose costs and restrict innovation."
- Oh c'mon; drop this stupid meme already! No one, not even the farthest Left, likes regulation just for the sake of regulation. As Gail reminds you, the whole purpose of regulation is oversight; you know, little things like keeping E. coli out of your food, and making sure that airplanes don't fly into each other.
"This is a country that desperately needs to rediscover its center. Republicans abandoned it when they went with Trump."
- Um, wrong! Republicans abandoned the center starting way back with Newt Gingrich. Remember the Tea Party? The Freedom Caucus?
38
The Republicans abandoned the center when they went with Trump?!? Talk about not being aware of recent history! Good grief, they ditched the center about 2-3 generations ago.
23
"The last person to try a 70 percent-plus tax on the rich was François Hollande..."
Also worth pointing out that another person who tried a 70 percent-plus tax on the rich (in fact 91%) was the well-known radical Dwight Eisenhower.
38
"Is it too much to ask even a young politician to be aware of recent history?"
Yes--it's too much to ask. She is, after all, a Millennial. They didn't study history in school--or anything else. Perhaps we should have asked her to identify Germany on the map before she ran for office.
1
i think that your assessment of the VA is wrong. I have been receiving wonderful care since I started using the VA hospital in Fayetteville AR. The staff is professional the doctors that I have been treated by are really knowledgeable. I have acquaintances who have private company supported health insurance that is expensive and covers very little and the co pays are horribly high. I'll take the VA everytime over that route. The people that want to privatize the VA just want to give more money to the billionaire class. Shame On Them.
37
When Poly Prep and St Ann’s can work their way into a Stephens column, it must be that Brooklyn has truly become the center of the conscious universe. But I think he doth protest too much about the much maligned Park Sloper’s. Private education is found virtually everywhere in this country and schools like these stayed the course in inner city New York when the middle class was fleeing much maligned Brooklyn in mid 20th century. They have earned their appeal but the crush and frenzy for acceptance at attractive local public schools attests to their appeal as well. School choice, don’t you know.
3
Bret can't think of many areas in which the government doesn't do a better job of providing a service than private interests?
Is he familiar with this country's history of private police forces, fire departments, water and sewer concerns? The corruption, the cronyism, the flat out discrimination towards whatever outgroup was unpopular at the time?
Not a record you want to crow about, Bret.
There are certain things that you do want the government doing--actually, quite a few things-- just so the playing field, by statute, is somewhat more level. I'm not saying there's not waste and inefficiency and ossification in these precincts quite often, but to pretend that is necessarily less of a problem in the private sector is ludicrous, and the private sector has that added problem of having no one's interests paramount except those of the shareholders.
54
One critical thing is to distinguish between privatization (hiring contractors to do government services) and the real free market, which would be holding bake sales to fund the Army, returnung to letters of Marque and Reprisal for the Navy, or completely replacing public schools with unfunded private schools, with no requirement to actually attend school.
Privatization generally just adds profit and a bloated contractor overhead to costs and more costs for government oversight, and incentives to cut quality by contractors.
38
Most depressing idea in this conversation: We might need Mitt Romney to save us. OMG.
Privatization of VA care? A while back I had a medical procedure which is performed at both the local VA hospital and the university teaching hospital where I get my care. There is overlap between the two medical staffs. The surgeon who does the job at the VA was using the older "open" method. My procedure was done with a surgical robot. Both methods produce similar results, but the robot makes recovery quicker and easier. Why didn't the VA have the more advanced equipment? I can only hazard a quess - they weren't given the money. I don't have a strong opinion about private vs. public operation of VA hospitals, but neither will work without adequate financing. There is no cheap fix.
AOC: She is a sane and intelligent example on the left of what Trump represents on the right. She tapped into a deep dissatisfaction with the way the political and economic system operates in the USA. Her democratic socialist ideas are a cogent alternative to the prolonged suicide-by-greed of today's radical capitalism. And she takes climate change seriously, as do younger voters.
Even if she flames out - which I don't think she will - it is a serious mistake to dismiss her wins as a merely local phenomenon. She isn't just a novelty act.
Doomed-from-the-get-go new year's resolution: "..we’d be serving our readers, and our profession, better if we resolved to try to write about him a lot less this year."
22
Bret, privatization is not a panacea. Gail mentions charter schools, I will remind you of privatized prisons where corruption is rife and the prisoners suffer terribly. Oversight is needed and usually sorely lacking. Maybe we should start with what we have and fix it, rather than tearing it down and building from the bottom up.
32
If you include state and local taxes in high tax states like NY and CA, the marginal income tax rates for the highest earners would likely exceed 80% under AOC’s proposal. Not much of an incentive to work or take risk. The depressive effect on economic activity would be even more pronounced if she would eliminate the distinction between ordinary income and capital gains.
While such an extreme proposal would probably sell in her Bronx district I doubt it would fly nationwide. However economic inequality has worsened to such an extent it would be reasonable to expect some rebalancing if the Dems take control of Washington in 2020.
2
It's a MARGINAL tax. There's plenty of incentive for the first 10 million.
9
@TonyZ
Some people risk enormous amounts of time and money on an investment or a project that could end up a complete wipeout. If they are successful, that risk taking should be rewarded. More philosophically why should anyone pay over 80% of their earnings to the government no matter what the threshold?
3
@Waylon Wall
This is a reasonable concern. Would a high, say 80%, marginal tax rate on the highest income level, have a depressive effect on the economy? It is reasonable to think it might. So the next step is to ask, is there any data out there, actual facts, that tell us if this is true or not? Maybe it does reduce business growth. Maybe it just disincentivises some individual behaviours but does not depress the economic output overall. Maybe it does not deter people from pursuing that extra $10M at all. Let's have a discussion where we all look for factual answers to these legitimate concerns.
Our tax revenues do not nearly pay our costs and this has been the case for decades. Instead of leaving this mess to our grandkids, let's look at the facts to find solutions.
2
Disappointed that Gail gave Bret a free pass on a stereotyped hit on the VA. Veterans with Medicare benefits are exactly the market test that Bret hypothesizes, and despite having government funded single payer health insurance (with privately run options in MA), still get on average over 60% of their care through VA. Those Veterans represent half of all Veterans who use VA. (And those vaunted private sector MA plans draft nearly $2B in free care off the VA budget.)
Why not have Congress buy Medicare policies for the other half of VA users (or have Medicare Administrative Contractors-- yes, private insurers!) administer the VA Choice program, making it in effect an extension of Medicare for Veterans less than 65? Medicare Part V.
5
Move to the center? Please - Republicans have pushed the goal line so far right that the center has moved. In this new world, Nixon is a liberal, so STOP asking for centrism. The Right fell off the edge of the earth and dragged the center with it.
Ocasio-Cortez is simply bringing us back to normalcy after Reagan put us on a Death March. Government is NOT the problem; moneyed interests subverting the will of the people is the problem.
Social Democratic stances on Health care, climate change, education, the widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of us, untangling government from lobbyists and money, preparing the safety net for an automated future - these are NOT radical policies. All the Reagan Gingrich Revolution managed was to burn the middle class and shift money AND SERVICES upward.
It's time for Republicans and the old Democratic guard to come out from their bubble. Luckily the old will pass on and more like OAC will come aboard. Not soon enough.
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@Al
Yes yes yes!
2
"... I can’t think of many areas where the private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service.."
Perhaps Bret is right but he overlooks the greed factor in many sectors where privately run services are becoming prominent. One with which I have unfortunately too much experience is adult Assisted Living.
Big business. Fewer extended families. You can't warehouse the elderly in hospitals. Assisted Living facilities, whether they accept Medicare or not, have become experts in a bait and switch business model.
They sell you hard on their services and amenities and staffing, all for fees that exceed normal mortgages by 4x or more. Once they fill up, they cut back, especially on staff. Service levels, such as time of response to resident calls, wouldn't be accepted in any other industry. Despite state and federal regulations about resident rights and meeting their service commitments, these facilities regularly cut corners.
Everything is fine unless a resident has a problem, in which case everything is not fine and the facility tries to force the resident out. State ombudsmen and DHHS officials know how the rules are flouted, yet cannot force changes upon management.
I'm not suggesting government would manage this better, but with unenforceable regulations, the private sector hardly did things better. It just costs more.
One facility I'm dealing with has "Profitably" as one of its "core values." That tells you all you need to know.
31
@SMKNC: The private sector discounts everything to present value, because, in the long run, we are all dead. The public sector lives on, so it invests in things that pay out in the more distant future.
10
@SMKNC: you are definitely correct on Elder Care in Assisted Living, nursing homes and so on.
They are big businesses, deeply corrupt -- grossly overpriced (as you correctly note, about 4 times the cost of an ordinary apartment or house!) and the care is very substandard.
If you complain, your elderly relative may be subject to abuses or even kicked out! I was threatened all the time for making complaints on behalf of my senior relative!
And state agencies such as ombudsman, are part of the corruption -- when I complained, and called them, the facility "miraculously" found out in advance, and corrected the problems for their visit! and yet, t hey denied this happened when it was OBVIOUS.
However, this is really off topic. I wish the NYT would address it though.
6
Bret, It's clear that your alma mater,
Middlesex School, needs to improve its US history courses.
The US had very high taxes for the rich in the following years:
In 1940 it was 81.1%, 1942-82%, 1945-94%, 1958-91%, 1971 to 1980-70%, 1982 to 1986-50%
the years when America was really the land of opportunity and the middle class grew to prominence.
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@Sand Nas Very few Rich Americans paid those tax rate in the past. There were ways around it. There were also a lot less rich back in the 40's, 50's and 60's. I'm not against raising taxes on the rich but lets get our facts straight. https://slate.com/business/2017/08/the-history-of-tax-rates-for-the-rich.html
1
@Michigander
Does it occur to you that many people didn't pay those high tax rates in the past because they were offered a way to shelter their money by investing in plants, machinery and the jobs that came with them? And there was still money left over to pay for the nation's infrastructure and maintenance needs.
Not so today. At today's rates, there's no incentive to invest. The Very Important People have so much wealth to play with that they use their money to make more money. The value of stocks traded annually on Wall Street is close to three times the GDP, and therefore unproductive by definition.
6
This past Sunday we had our first town hall meeting in IL-06 in over 3000 days with our new US Congressperson, Sean Casten. He provided updates to what's going on in Congress and the Senate and spent most of the meeting talking with an overflow crowd at our local VFW about how to help federal workers maintain some semblance of survival while the Trump Shutdown continues ad nauseum.
There were a few folks there demanding the wall be built for various specious reasons; while they were allowed to speak, many of us simply called out, "That's not true" or "What is your source for that?" and the discussion remained civil.
I am convinced we already know in our bones how to maintain democracy in our country - preserving the rights of the minority while accepting the rule of the majority.
The best part of the last two years is that US citizens are finally waking up to how their government really works, getting involved at the local level, and will do whatever it takes to restore our democracy once Robert Mueller finishes his report.
It will then be time to take action based on facts, not tweets or innuendo.
43
I see I'm not the only one who objects to Bret's assertion that private businesses always work better than the government. I can think of many examples that prove him wrong. Blackwater comes to mind amongst them.
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the idea of predicting which way the goldfish will swim is so apt with this president. science has determined that the average goldfish has a 7 second memory. trump and the goldfish could be distant relatives. thanks Bret you made me laugh with the analogy.
36
@daniel r potter Distant relatives? They are the same color as well.
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@daniel r potter
"trump and the goldfish could be distant relatives"
It would explain a lot about his appearance
10
Random thoughts...Bret, good for you on avoiding Trump, for the most part, in your most recent writings. If our country’s leading journalists self-allocated only 20% of their column space to all things Trumpian, we would all be better off, both by the improved quality of that 20% and by our collective improved sanity from the other 80%. Two, Bret, re the quality of private education, I direct your attention to Trump University, and dozens of other for-profit scams run by grifters. Last, re AOC, I mean, really. All of the discussion on the left fringe regarding tax rates realistically might result in legislation proposing a 5% increase in the tax rate on marginal income above, say, 10 million dollars. The Republic probably won’t crumble. If slightly more progressive tax rates were so terrible, why do I hear all my wealthy white male friends referencing the 1950’s when they chant for MAGA?
15
@Lee N: Automation makes widespread ownership of the means of production the cornerstone of economic demand.
Before we had France's Hollande suggesting a 70% tax on the wealthy we had our own President Eisenhower in office with a 91% marginal tax rate on the wealthy at a time of profound economic acceleration in the face of significant pent-up demand after WWII.
AOC's economic suggestion is anathema to the powerful but thrilling to the rest of us if it can ignite a Green New Deal.
You go, girl!
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@Douglas McNeill: Reagan's tax "reforms" opened the floodgates to corporate asset-stripping.
18
@Douglas McNeill: nobody ever paid 91% or 70% marginal taxes.
Look it up. Google is your friend.
They had 10,000 loopholes & deductions and rich people took every one of those, with lots of tax attorneys, CPAs, accounting firms, etc.
Not sure why people bash the post office. Ran an online business for 15 years and sent packages across the country and even around the world (until rates were jacked up too high and my international business plummeted) via Priority Mail and they did a great job at a much lower cost than FedEx or UPS. Oh, and they actually funded their pension system, unheard of in Illinois.
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@Karen K
If one has watched the fiscal attack on the Port Office for the last few decades, one can see who it has been slowly gutted to the benefit of commercial shipping companies. The process has been slow but steady. At one time the postal service was a unifying force, a way to establish a general American identity (check out the ideas of one B. Franklin on this), and to support communication of al sort. Now my poor letter carrier, working on foot, needs a headlight to read the addresses on envelopes as he finished his route in the dark; my local station, a sorting facility, barely has heating & AC and hasn't been upgraded physically in 40 years. It is being starved and soon will be drown in the bathtub. Thanks a lot, Grover Torquist!
23
"I’m somewhat allergic to Romney because he’s such a transparently calculating politician. But I think he deserves support."
Man, if this doesn't sum up the mess this country is in, I don't know what does. Always going with the lesser evil, if only to thwart the worst.
But as for VA privatization, I'm with Gail, when she says, "There are too many examples of privatization leading to either lower quality or higher prices for me to be comfortable with just presuming that profit-making services are better than the ones the government offers."
Yesterday, I visited my boyfriend's Dad, hospitalized for pneumonia in the VA hospital in Providence, RI. Excellent room with all the high tech air-exchange systems, caring staff, and little touches like a photo of each vet on their wristband, so they can be greeted by name.
The other day, an article on this topic quoted an official saying, private care should "supplement" VA service delivery, not "supplant" it. Vets I know are uniformly against it. Healthcare providers too. What worries me is how fast VA budgets will explode on private sector prices.
What worries me even more is the prospect of kickbacks in this most corrupt administration ever.
Fix the the worst in the VA system, outsource in rural areas, but don't wreck what works.
I'm not holding my breath.
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@ChristineMcM
"Supplement" is the key word. I'm a 100% disabled Vet and am using both VA and private care. If need be, use the Wall money to add to the VA budget.
31
@ChristineMcM
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
6
@Ben Daniele I agree 100%. Private care, particularly in areas that lack access to the services needed, should be used. But to privatize the whole system would lead to rationing and higher prices, not to mention a battle royale every year to approve the VA budget.
8
The Veteran's Administration is a government bureaucracy. So no one needs to fret. The structure or funding or services provided might be tweaked, but once a bureaucracy with lofty job titles, great pay and retirement benefits is created, it is quickly deemed imperative for our country's future and untouchable for eternity.
1
@Luke
Can you contrast and compare the pay for executives in any aspect of the private health care industry with that of government pay?
Most hospital executives make more than the President, and Governor Scott of Florida was paid multi-millions but "didn't know" his company was cheating Medicare out of billions of dollars.
13
@Luke VA pay is great ??Your wrong !! and great retirement ?You don't have a clue. I go to the VA and get excellent service. I Must tell you the services are wonderful and the care by the staff is the best I have ever experienced
2
I have a brother who is in his early fifties and may have had (take your pick) a stroke, a reaction to his knee surgery, issues with his diabetes, mystery illness. It has taken him six weeks to see a neurologist even though the whole left side of his body is numb and he cannot lift himself into his truck. He must return to work at about the same time he may get into see a neurologist.
Tell me again how much better veterans will have it in the private sector?
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@wanda
And my daughter is waiting two months to see a neurologist about her Rheumatoid Arthritis and my granddaughter to see an endocrinologist about her serious hormone imbalance. That is in the private system. As for my 90m year old husband and myself and about to be 79, thank God for medicare, but we no longer have a "primary care" doctor and are lucky if we get to see a PA or RNA when we have a problem. My husband was being seen by a visiting nurse here in New Hampshire as he recovered from a severe leg infection and when she called the clinic that is the base of our "care," they said they never heard of my husband. A similar thing happened to me when we still lived in Maine when my primary care person denied knowing me after I had just paid her bill for care not covered by Medicare!
8
When America was building a vibrant middle class and people were able to move up the ladder of prosperity the marginal tax rate was much higher than today, higher or equal to Ocasio-Cortez's proposed 70% marginal tax rate. In 1940 it was 81.1%, 1942-82%, 1945-94%, 1958-91%, 1971 to 1980-70%, 1982 to 1986-50%. For the past three and a half decades the middle class's income has stagnated, while the top 10%'s income has grown exponentially, causing extreme income inequality. Many middle class families have fallen into the lower classes by just standing still. The republicans will say they want lower taxes so the rich can invest more, however most don't actually invest, they gamble in the stock market, which doesn't improve the the economy. When the marginal tax rate was high, CEO's and upper management didn't get paid exorbitant amounts, allowing companies to use that money to be reinvested in the company, to increase growth and wages for the workers. Now the CEO's get stock options and earn 100's of millions of dollars, which is why capital gains should also be taxes at the same rate as income.
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@Mark thank you for sharing these stats. I remember my father complaining about taxes, he was in the 70% bracket, but he paid none the less and felt it was what good citizens do. His accountant told my mother a few years after my father's death and well into the new tax era of the Reagan administration, that now that the rich were being given such a big tax break that they would never ever accept going back to higher rates of taxation. The accountant who I'm sure was a good rock solid Republican, was not happy about this and felt it did not bode well for the country. Guess his fears were well founded.
69
Bret and Gail, thank you for a truly fine example of how people from across the aisles can find agreement on many issues while still maintaining different beliefs on the role of government and the best way to achieve our common purposes.
By the way, if you’re sick of talking about Trump, Mitch McConnell could use a good raking over the coals. He is preventing the vote that would end the shutdown.
288
I agree with Bret that rediscovering a center is a huge priority. It will involve a shift in our political rhetoric and as Frank Bruni discussed, a more disciplined and public service (vs. strictly profit driven) oriented media. It may take a generation to get there.
7
@Horsepower Everything is cyclical. Just as the younger generations today have grown tired of the status quo, future generations will tire of drama. I welcome a return to center politics.
3
Privatizing the VA seems appealing at first. Why not give every veteran a Medicare card and call it good? However, the idea has two big problems that have nothing to do with logistics.
First, a primary function of the VA is to prevent veteran homelessness. This has been part of the VA's mission since before the Civil War. As mismanaged as the VA is today, the private sector doesn't even pretend to address the issue. They have no idea how and they aren't going to learn overnight. There's no incentive. That's how the private sector works, incentives.
Second, the VA also provides a robust community of specialists dedicated to treating wounds and disabilities unique to military service. Your average specialist at the local hospital probably isn't going to have a lot of experience with the long term effects of IED trauma. For VA doctors, this sort thing is their bread and butter.
In order to support unique services, the VA requires all veterans to use military hospitals for everything. That's their revenue stream. Unfortunately, with guaranteed solvency comes bloat and corruption. The school example falls flat on this issue. Schools, even public schools, can close with surprising rapidity. The same thing isn't really true for VA hospitals.
VA hospitals really only close when forcing veterans into the private sector. That's what Trump is trying to do right now. Veterans are actually left with less choice. The federal windfall is highly profitable to heal care investors though.
109
"He understands that if he folds on wall funding, his presidency is effectively over. It means he will have failed a test of strength against the despised Nancy Pelosi while betraying his core political promise."
Trump promised that American taxpayers wouldn't fund one cent of his vainglorious wall. So even if Congress ponies up all the funds he's requesting and more, his promise will remain unfulfilled.
And what's more Trumpian than defaulting on one's word, and insisting one has not defaulted on one's word?
170
Privatization – it depends entirely on how it is set up and monitored. A case in point would be the British rail system. It used to be a brilliant system. It was privatized by Maggie Thatcher, queen of privatization, and now it’s a disaster. Southern Rail, for example, has a contract in which they get paid whether or not the trains are running. Their workers have been on strike for more than a year, and so we never know if a train will run or not. The company doesn’t care because it doesn’t cost them. Please don’t make privatization a religious belief. It’s necessary to be sceptical and watch it like a hawk.
122
@Former American engineering professor No, this is one disaster that can't be laid at Thatcher's door. It was her successor, John Major, who privatised British Rail, leading to the disaster you describe and others as well.
4
AOC did explain that she was talking about marginal tax rates. That is, very high rates would only be levied on that part of one's income over a very high level -- say $2 million. And reintroducing reasonable estate and gift taxes would also work and be fair. After passing on, let's say $2 million to heirs, an estate would be taxes at 50%. Remember, capital gains taxes are mostly given up upon a person's death -- and the dead are, well, dead. They can no longer use the money. If they haven't taken care of their loved ones during their life, beyond a reasonable inheritance, it is too late to do that after they die. And nobody makes it all on their own, Not only do you have the Donald Trumps, spoiled from birth, but no matter the business one's in, the infrastructure they use and the society in which they are embedded have helped them dearly. Pay it back.
AOC is raising a good point. And raising a point is not the end of a discussion, but its beginning. Let's not dismiss this so fast, Bret. Besides your faith in private over public, why don't you contribute meaningfully to this discussion. What tax rate do you think is fair? How much should be spent on public education? How should each student be educated?
157
@JustThinkin This in and of itself would still leave us woefully short of the 32 trillion dollars in spending she would like to see implemented. Why won’t progressives be honest with the American people and say everyone will need to pay more in taxes to make these proposals work? They keep pointing out that Europe has all of these social programs but never do they acknowledge that Europe taxes the poor and middle class more than America, in addition to the wealthy, to fund their programs.
2
@John asks that I admit that everyone would need to pay more in taxes to get more out of government.
No problem. Everyone who can afford it should pay more in taxes. I said it, and mean it.
And I don't know where you got the 32 trillion. If you ask for transparency then you should provide it, too.
And don't say that single-payer would cost more -- the costs are paid for differently and would be a net reduction in cost (and more effective and universally provided). Instead of companies paying for health care, each individual would -- but the savings to companies would then have to be recouped -- either by added taxes (to be used for health care, reducing the need for individuals to pay much) or by paying their employees more (offsetting their now paying for their health care through taxes).
And conservatives always factor in imagined revenues that come from the effect of tax cuts. You should also then factor in revenues from the effects of good social programs and more money for schools.
62
@John Yes, talk to an average European and they will complain bitterly about their high tax rate. In the next breath, they will mention our stupendously expensive higher education system and byzantine healthcare system while shaking their heads in amazement. Go figure.
33
History will record that in early 2019 our president, a deeply learned and sensitive person, and assisted by his staff of highly professional, self-effacing public servants, carried out a series of well thought out, carefully executed steps which, unluckily, when viewed by those lacking his subtlety and wisdom, appeared to be almost exactly what would be done by our nation’s most vicious, kleptocratic adversary. When asked to explain how this could be, our president simply, and with his customary humble nobility, denied that this was his goal. Given that all Americans had come to trust the president as a font of truth, the entire matter was put to rest.
21
@eric -- Good one. Well written. Made me smile (hard to do without standing on one's head two years into upside-down times).
3
So Stephens says, "private sector doesn’t do a better job than government of providing a service, from delivering mail to running an airline to providing a better quality of education."
On the mail: The post office is required to deliver all mail to all places in the US for the same price -- a great support for rural America and small local businesses. It also treats its employees better than the privates -- notice those UPS guys running and panting just to make their quota? How about sweatshops for manufacturing workers in the US?
On airlines: both the government air force and private airlines do inefficient lousy jobs. The air force spends too much because the manufacturers of their planes are private near-monopolies and Congress doesn't do its proper job -- we need better and more government oversight. Private airlines mistreat their passengers, squeezing them in planes in unhealthy and unsafe ways, and then sneak in charges for seats, food, and luggage.
On education: notice how low taxes on the wealthy and on corporations have been paid for by reducing government support for education due to reduced budgets at all levels (look at how states have gone from supporting state universities at over 50% to now under 20%) and then blaming public education for offering less. Like the universality of the mail, public education attempts to educate all equally, and those wealthy with reduced taxes blame the schools for being able to do less, ignoring their own stingy support.
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@JustThinkin I couldn't agree more. Well said!
19
@JustThinkin same thing happened with higher education - states have cut funds for decades. Tuition goes up. Health care costs have increased too though.
16
JustThinkin
I've never seen UPS drivers running and panting. And they don't have quotas.
Bret points to the scandal-ridden VA system as “one of the reasons Americans should be wary of ever embracing government-run health care as the norm.”
I’m not sure I fully understand “government-run health care as the norm”, but let’s be clear that single-payer health insurance is a very different thing from state-run hospitals and clinics. I don’t know of any Americans who advocate those. Being wary of them is nearly as easy as being wary of labor camps for dissident writers.
51
@LongestaffeI
The UK NHS is sort of like the VA. I lived in London for a while and it is pretty much the same as my current HMO, but without co-pays. I am OK with either.
8
@Cdb
Thanks. That must have been the intended meaning. I'm no judge of that system, but I do know comprehensive single-payer health insurance well enough to say I like it.
4
@Longestaffe - If you are a "conservative" who wants to show the public that government does not work, it is very simple. Don't give the agency the funds it needs to function and appoint political hacks, grifters, and/or idiots to run it.
Note that when we get to programs that the GOP base uses (farm aid, prior to the shutdown, social security, and Medicare) they are run well.
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Thanks Gail and Bret for a well thought out and amusing column while citing the obvious failures of this administration.
Writing comedy is hard work but then the country has to thank Mr. Trump for something.
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@DDC
Writing comedy can be quite easy. Mark Russell, a stand-up comic who specialized in political humor, said after Nixon resigned,"The end of Watergate was a terrible blow to us comedians. It meant we had to go back to writing our own material."
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A modest proposal: give Trump *eleven* billion for his wall, double what he's asking for, in exchange for returning to the Paris climate change accords. *That* would be a small price to pay for some progress in addressing one of the only two really important issues facing us, climate change and the not-zero risks of nuclear war.
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Gail says: " Presuming our president doesn’t have a visit from an angel ", which we think is the only for sure, certain, thing which won't happen.
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While we are discussing privatization of the VA hospitals, don't forget how that method worked out in running prisons. It isn't.
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@RynWriter
It's working out fantastic -- for the cronies profiting from the privatization.
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@RynWriter Can't forget Haliburton (support for military), Blackwater (and all of the "contractors" in Afghanistan), (Mis)Managed Care, shall we go on?
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@RynWriter
Yeah, not equivalent. VA privatization has its problems, but no one is suggesting selling the VA to a private entity, and forcing veterans to use that system. Instead, vets will be able to avail themselves of the same (broken, rapacious) private system the rest of us are subject to. It's saying something that that's considered an improvement.
Equivalent would be letting convicts choose their jailers. What a world that would be.
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Higher marginal tax rates are on the way to becoming a staple on the left, I'm guessing. Which is good: Democrats have long needed to muster the courage to talk about how to pay for their proposals. And to make the moral case for so doing. Pressing a moral argument, coupled with claiming the mantle of fiscal responsibility - and staying on message for a good long while - could move a lot of independents into our column, and soften some of the right-leaning voters' opposition.
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AOC has suggested a marginal tax rate that is lower than the rates under Eisenhower, who I believe was a Republican. Back when Republicans tried to act in the best interests of the country.
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@kjb
Yes. Bret surely knows Hollande was elected in France, not here. But if protests in France suit his ideological purpose, he'll trot them out, along with Greece and Venezuela.
The point of incomes taxes isn't punishment. It's fairness: those who benefit the most should contribute the most. Anyone who argues they benefited by sheer sweat of brow hasn't thought through the question.
Krugman wrote recently that economists estimate a 75% income tax rate on high incomes is economically optimal. That is, it produces the most revenue. Lower rates bring in less, and higher rates create more tax avoidance.
We also know 70% of the economic productivity gains since 1979 went to the top 0.01%. If globalization is good for the country, it's only good if those gains are felt by the country. If the economy would spread them around itself, the only rational option is to tax them, and thus make them available for public purposes, benefitting everyone.
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When I read comments on the VA’s service I question whether they’ve experienced the VA first hand or through or through a close family member’s experience.
Bret’s comments echo so many conservative politicians and commentators. Go spend some time time at a VA health center. They’re packed with veterans seeking and getting service. They are not the uncrowded glass and chrome medical centers we have in the suburbs. VA centers are full everywhere. People take the bus in, get radiation therapy and go back to work, doctors and therapists spend time talking to them and their families.
Don’t get talked into trading good caring VA health services fir a voucher and a copay
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@Ted
My father, a vet of WW2, Korea, & Vietnam, was a patient of the VA in his last battle against cancer. The docs and staff of the VA were excellent, and his care was first rate. His experience with the VA throughout his retirement years was very good, except for the sometimes long-ish wait times due to underfunding of the service. Bret, you should take time to visit the VA centers to form your own opinion rather than simply repeat the negative opinions of politicians and lobbyists who are incentivized to bash an organization that is working hard to serve our vets.
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@Ted Absolutely. My brother has had stellar care from the VA when he had a stent put in.
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Yes Gal. It would be nice if we heard from some Republicans. When are they going to be courageous and stand up to Trump? The answer to that question will tell us how 2019 will play out.
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